True Heroes
by The White Guardian
Summary: A mysterious figure following the Rangers, planets blowing up everywhere, and when the Rangers can't handle the chaos alone, it's clear they need help. Can an inpulsive Lombax who grew up in isolation and a defective warbot be the heroes that Solana so desperately needs? Mix of the movie & PS4 game plot with various additions to the plot, including new worlds and backstory.
1. Quite by Chance

**Alright, here I am with a new story! So I came up with this idea when the movie first was announced, I wondered what would happen if I'd do both an OC insert and rewrite at once, and True Heroes was born.**

 **So, this story is basically an OC insert while I also rewrite the story itself to some extent, it mainly follows the storyline of the PS4 game although since some cutscenes are extended in the movie I'm making this story kind of a mix between the PS4 game and the movie. Add to that, I'll be adding a few new parts to the plot, and not just because there's another character in the story.**

 **Anyhow, I'm really excited to start this story, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Also, to the fans of the Epilogue series: don't worry, I'm not quitting that one, although I'll take a break from Epilogue so I can focus more on this story after Epilogue 2 ends. I can assure everyone though that that series will not be put on an indefinite hiatus and will actually continue again fairly soon after.**

 **For now, once again, I hope you all enjoy this new story!**

* * *

It was a warm morning on planet Veldin, the rising sun promising even more heat to come. Among the rocks of the Kyzil Plateau stood a garage ran by one of the most respected engineers on Veldin, Grimroth Razz. And his assistant engineer Ratchet of course.

Ratchet was unusual, he was different from most other people. That is because Ratchet was a Lombax. Ratchet had golden fur with brown stripes, a striped tail and large ears, as well as green eyes, and he was wearing a brown shirt, leather gloves, a leather pilot's cap, brown boots and green pants.

What was so odd about Ratchet being a Lombax is that Lombaxes were considered very rare, and why Ratchet didn't know. In fact, the only Lombax he knew he could only see in the mirror, himself. He had never known his parents, hell, he had never known his family, or even another member of his species for that matter. Grimroth had found Ratchet when he was a baby, in an escape pod that came falling from the sky one fateful night. He had raised Ratchet, taught him everything he knew about engineering, and now Ratchet helped him run the garage.

However, Ratchet had a dream. Although he had a knack for technology, his dream was joining the Galactic Rangers, a team of elite heroes tasked with keeping the Solana galaxy safe. It had been Ratchet's dream ever since he was a kid. And today, that dream might just become a reality.

A few days earlier it was announced that the Galactic Rangers were looking for a new recruit, and that they would come to Veldin first, followed by Novalis, Rilgar, Kalebo III...

Anyhow, didn't matter, what mattered is that this could be Ratchet's chance, and thus Ratchet was very excited. He tried to stay as quiet as possible as he sneaked behind a crate and picked up a poster of the Galactic Rangers. He stared at the poster for a moment, realizing that he could be _this_ close to becoming one of them.

But in order to join them, he'd have to go to the tryouts first. He sneaked towards the door of the garage, hoping that he hadn't woken up Grimroth.

Nope. The moment he stepped around the crate he ran straight into Grimroth, who had been standing there with his arms crossed.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Despite Ratchet's pleas, he still had his tasks to do. The first thing on the list was Mr. Micron's ship. The irony was that yesterday afternoon the ship had been in mint condition.

Grim sighed as he thought back at what happened. When the client, Mr. Micron, came, Ratchet had created this entire show with spotlights and everything, ergo completely unnecessary. What was even worse is that Ratchet had given the ship upgrades that Mr. Micron had never asked for, which meant that they'd be in a tough position: if they'd give away those upgrades for free it'd cost them big time, but they couldn't possibly charge Mr. Micron for stuff he had never even asked for in the first place.

But it got worse when Ratchet decided to show off some of the upgrades, namely the mag-booster. The bad thing was that it was basically a giant magnet, and since nearly everything in a garage is metallic, Ratchet and Mr. Micron suddenly found themselves chased by tons of metal parts. Needless to say the ship didn't survive that journey. What's worse, Mr. Micron had _not_ enjoyed the ride, and he enjoyed the ejector seat at the end even less. So, a pissed off client and a wrecked ship. When Ratchet had told Grim what happened, Grim had nearly exploded. "Ratchet, what am I gonna do with you?! Adding unnecessary components, scaring the living daylights out of a client, and even wrecking the ship! Perhaps you should dream less and use your head more often!"

Grim had sighed. "You're a good engineer, but you really need to pay more attention."

Grim shook his head. Although he was still a bit mad at Ratchet, if he'd prevent him from pursuing his dreams he'd never forgive himself. Grim could come across as a bit rough, but he had a good heart.

Then he had an idea. "Ratchet, no leaving the garage until you help fix Mr. Micron's ship. Now get on that bolt crank." Grim said, pointing at a bolt crank in the back of the garage.

Ratchet began turning the bolt crank, lowering Mr. Micron's ship to the ground. Grimroth walked over to a computer to see the results of the scan he had performed the evening before. He sighed. "You really did a number this time, kid. Avionics: fried. CPU: fried. Even the gosh-darn gravity coils, fried!"

Grim shook his head. "Let's see if the software still works." he said as he began to type. "Alright. Ratchet, do you see a light blinking on the left wing?"

"Yep, it's working."

"Hmm. What about the right wing?"

"It works."

"This thing might just be spaceworthy after all. One more to the right."

"Right afterburner light checks out." Ratchet said. "So, are we good?"

"Yep, we're good. The news says the tryouts are being held at the fairgrounds." Grim said as he grabbed his tools and got to work on reattaching the right engine. "Show 'em what you got, kid." Grim said as Ratchet left.

Because it was rather quiet, Grimroth turned on the radio, just in time for the news.

"Rise and shine, Kyzil Plateau!" the radio blared. "It's eight A.M. and it's gonna be a hot one today! Our first story is a sad one, folks. Last night, at approximately 8:30 P.M. planet Tenemule fell to what appears to be a class seven supernova..."

"Another planet?" Grim mumbled to himself.

"...but top-know-it-all's are skeptical. This is the sixth planet we've lost..."

Grim sighed. "That's what I meant. What's happenin' to planets these days?"

* * *

Ratchet couldn't help but run all the way to the fairgrounds, he was so excited! He could finally become a ranger!

He used his OmniWrench to whack any Horned Toad out of his way as he climbed up a small formation of rocks before continuing down the path leading to the fairgrounds.

Upon arrival, he couldn't help but gasp in awe. Up ahead was an obstacle course, the logo of the Ranger proudly hanging above the entrance. There was also a robotic lookalike of Qwark present, but Ratchet didn't really pay attention to what the robot was saying.

For a moment, he paused. Once he stepped further there was no going back. Was he really going to do this?

That's when a few words from the Qwarkbot got through to him. "Do you have what it takes to be a Ranger?"

Ratchet grinned. "Yeah!" he yelled as he charged forth.

"I spy another contestant! Good luck, future ranger!" the Qwarkbot yelled after Ratchet.

Suddenly, a female voice spoke from speakers placed all across the course. "Hey there, recruit! Cora Veralux here. Show us how quick you can be on your feet by jumping over these obstacles."

Up ahead were two fences that Ratchet had to jump over. He did so with feline grace, the two fences proving no challenge to him. He climbed up a small ladder to the next part of the course.

Up ahead was a deep gap with two platforms providing a way across, but the platforms were moving from side to side.

"A good ranger is always mindful of their surroundings. Hop across these moving platforms!" Cora continued.

Ratchet took a deep breath and jumped. He made the first jump, but made a slight miscalculation on his second jump. Luckily he could grab the edge of the platform and pull himself up. Making sure not to make the same mistake twice, Ratchet made the last jump with ease.

"That was pretty good. You _could_ be the recruit we've been looking for. Keep moving to the next part of the course." Cora said.

"Cora Veralux just complimented me. Cool!" Ratchet said to himself, unable to stop smiling. He dropped down from the ledge he was standing on into a rectangular room with six teleporters.

"Hey, recruit! I'm Brax Lectrus, and my specialty is brute force. Bash these crates!" a male voice said. Suddenly, six stacks of two crates stacked on top of each other spawned in. Ratchet immediately performed a Hyper-Strike on the three stacks closest to him before taking out two more stacks with a Comet-Strike.

After finishing off the last stack with two swings of his wrench, Brax spoke again. "Hey, that was pretty good! Next step: blow stuff up!"

A forcefield preventing Ratchet from continuing deactivated, and Ratchet walked on to a Gadgetron vendor.

"Now, because it'd look weird if we'd be giving away free weapons, we're afraid you'll have to pay a small fee of 100 bolts for a Fusion Grenade." Brax said.

Ratchet sighed. "Thank goodness I brought my saved money with me." he mumbled as he purchased a Fusion Grenade. He noticed that the gate up ahead had the symbol of the Fusion Grenade on it. Out of curiosity, Ratchet threw a bomb.

The gate was blown apart, allowing Ratchet to continue. Up ahead a few Horned Toads had found their way into the course. Ratchet grinned, they would make excellent practice for his Fusion Grenade.

After the Horned Toads had been dealt with, Ratchet broke a golden ammunition crate that spawned in to his right before blowing up another gate.

After climbing up a small ledge, he froze. Up ahead were two small gaps filled with lava.

Ratchet took a deep breath and sprinted. He jumped, and luckily, he landed in between the two gaps. After destroying yet another gate with the Fusion Grenade, Ratchet jumped again before continuing.

Up ahead was a platform with a robot on it. The robot had a flamethrower for his left arm, and it's one eye was already glaring at Ratchet, daring him to come closer.

Another voice spoke. "We've armed these test dummies with Gadgetron Flamethrowers! Our lawyers are totally cool with this." a voice said that Ratchet recognized as the leader of the rangers, Captain Qwark himself.

Ratchet stepped forward and immediately the test dummy opened fire. However, the robot's weapon had a short range, and thus Ratchet could easily throw a bomb at the robot's face. Ratchet stepped onto the platform, and immediately it began to move, taking the Lombax to a small arena.

"Now our contestant must face their final challenge: survive a brutal onslaught of enemies, and you might just be the galaxy's next Galactic Ranger!" Qwark said.

"Or maybe an intern." Qwark muttered afterwards.

Ratchet shook his head and grabbed his Fusion Grenade as a forcefield formed behind him. Immediately the six teleporters got to work, teleporting in a small army of flamethrower-wielding robots.

Ratchet quickly got to work with his Fusion Grenade, but after a few waves, along with the robots, some... intruders were teleported in.

"Uh-oh! Looks like some angry toads." Ratchet said to himself as he threw a bomb at the creatures.

After two more waves, the teleporters stopped. "Excellent job, recruit! Come see me after the show." Qwark said.

"Sweet!" Ratchet said as he crossed a bridge and headed on to a large stage up ahead, and just in time for the show too!

"Laaaadies, and gentlemen! Please welcome, the savior of Solana, Captaaaain Qwark!"

As Qwark's name was said, a golden globe in the center of the stage opened up, and slowly but surely Captain Qwark himself came into view, an elevator bringing him up and slowly bringing him into view for a dramatic effect. Qwark was striking a pose, and when the elevator stopped, he smiled at the crowd.

Suddenly, there was an explosion of fire, but Qwark came somersaulting out of the flames like he did this every day. "Hellooo Veldin!" Qwark said as he ran forward.

"Hello captain!" Ratchet yelled back as the crowd went crazy.

As Qwark lifted up his right leg, a chair was quickly shoved on stage and slided his way, passing underneath Qwark's foot with perfect timing.

"He's on fire again." Brax mumbled to Cora. They were standing on the side of the stage, letting their captain have his moment.

"I know." Cora said with a sigh. She equipped a cryoshot, took a few steps forward and fired an icy mist at Qwark's back, extinguishing the flames. Cora then rolled her eyes and walked back to Brax.

"I'm gonna be real with you folks for a moment." Qwark said as he frowned. "When President Phyronix advised us to recruit a new Ranger I knew just where to go! Now, you may be thinking, do I have what it takes? After all, you may not have stopped Dr. Nefarious from devastating Aleero City!" Qwark continued as an image of a beaten up green man was projected onto the golden globe behind him.

Qwark continued. "You may not have stopped Neftin Prog from rendering the entire population of Aridia colour blind! _Twice_!"

An image of a bulky man that was almost too big for the camera was projected onto the globe, followed by an image of Qwark, Brax and Cora heroically posing on top of a cliff. "After all," Qwark continued, "You may not have these massive muscles, or this god-like pectoral region, but, if you have heart, then you have what it takes!"

Ratchet didn't listen to the rest of Qwark's story, someone else took his attention. While Cora and Brax were standing on the right end of the stage, there was also someone standing on the left end of the stage. Someone Ratchet had never seen before.

The person was wearing white armour complete with gloves, helmet, kneecaps, elbow guards and shoulder guards. His face was hidden by glass that was only transparent from inside, from outside it was black. Where the glass met the rest of the helmet there was a narrow blue line. The shoulder guards, elbow guards and kneecaps were blue, and there were two blue bands running across the man's chest, where the lines crossed there was an emblem of a blue planet. His boots and the back of his hands were also blue, and he had a blue belt.

He was just standing there with his arms crossed, watching Qwark. He was no Ranger, Ratchet had never seen him on any poster, and everyone knew the four rangers: Qwark, Cora, Brax, and Elaris. So who was this man, and what was he doing there?

Ratchet noticed Qwark was finishing. "Alright, all contestants, follow Brax. We will evaluate your efforts, one person at a time."

Ratchet and a handful of other people followed Brax to a building in the back of the fairgrounds, where they had to form a line. After waiting for fifteen minutes, it was Ratchet's turn at last.

The door slid open, and Qwark yelled "Next!"

Ratchet walked in. There was a desk in the middle of the room, with a comfortable looking chair behind it and a wooden chair in front of it. Ratchet guessed the comfortable chair wasn't his, so he sat down on the wooden chair.

His theory was proven correct when Qwark sat down across from him, behind the desk.

"I'll just get straight to the point." Qwark said as he leaned forward. "You don't have what it takes."

Ratchet's world collapsed. His ears lowered immediately. He was denied by the Rangers?

"But... I have heart..." he tried.

Qwark sat back and placed his feet on the desk. "Yes, but unfortunately for you that heart is encased in a weak muscle-less mass of inexperience."

"Oh, give him a break, Qwark. Do you really have to insult _all_ of the possible recruits?" a voice said behind Ratchet. Ratchet glanced over his shoulder. Cora, Brax, and the mystery man from earlier were standing behind him. Cora and Brax were holding tablets, while the mystery man was leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

"That's enough out of you." Qwark said. "This isn't your conversation, so stay out of it."

The man shrugged. "Whatever, Qwark. This may not be my conversation, but it's still my galaxy. Phyronix is right, the Rangers need a new recruit, but they'll never get one if you keep up this attitude. Plus, you're giving the Rangers a bad name."

" _I_ am giving the Rangers a bad name? What are you doing here anyway, you're not even a Ranger!"

"Anything regarding the galaxy's safety has my undivided attention."

"Whatever." Qwark said. He turned to Ratchet. "Anyhow, there's also your history to consider."

"Got a long line of citations here." Cora said. "Possession of an illegal gravity repulsor..."

"Operation of a black market accelerator." Brax added.

"Willful disruption of the _space-time continuum_?" Cora said, barely able to believe what she was reading.

"That is a funny story." Ratchet tried to lighten the mood, but it didn't quite work.

Qwark got his feet off his desk, leaned forward and slammed his hand on his desk. "You're dangerous, unpredictable and a loose cannon!"

Qwark got up and leaned forward, getting in Ratchet's face. "That's _my_ shtick!"

"Qwark, back off." the mystery man said.

"No, you back off. Stop telling me what to do or I'll kick you out."

To Ratchet's surprise, the man started to laugh. "Right. I wish you luck with that."

Qwark growled. He turned back to Ratchet. "Out."

Ratchet quickly got up, and within seconds Qwark had pushed him out the door.

"Wait!" Ratchet said, turning around. "Just gimme a chance!"

"Sorry, no time, galaxy in jeopardy! Get back out there, and remember: you can do anything!" Qwark yelled as Ratchet began to walk away.

"As long as you're me." Qwark added with a chuckle before he barked "Next!"

When Ratchet came walking into the garage, Grim got up from underneath the ship. "Well, how did it go? Are you off to save the galaxy?"

Ratchet's lowered ears and sad face gave a pretty clear indication of the answer. "You're right, Grim." Ratchet said as he passed by Grimroth. "I should dream less."

Ratchet equipped his Swingshot and used it to pull himself up to his bedroom on the second floor of the garage.

Grim shook his head and got back to work. As much as he could use Ratchet's help, he knew that Ratchet needed a moment alone, so Grim just sighed and got back to work.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the polluted and cloudy planet called Quartu, something was going on that would change the universe forever.

"Dr. Nefarious!" Chairman Alonzo Drek said as he and his second in command, Victor von Ion, walked (or in Drek's case, hovered, he was on a vehicle) through the door. "The mad scientist who made all of this possible!"

"'Mad' suggests cognitive impairment." a scratchy voice said from within the shadows. The owner of the voice turned around and walked into the light, an evil smile present on his face. "I'm more of a _vengeful_ scientist. I trust you're here to meet the troops?"

Actually, that was an understatement, Drek _couldn't wait_ to meet the troops. The 'vengeful' scientist lead them to the production lines at the heart of the factory, where Drek's army of warbots was being built. It was one large conveyor belt that ran from machine to machine, each of those machines providing a crucial component for the warbots before the warbot moved on to the next machine for the next component.

Lastly, they were activated, and were asked to state their prime objective. "Destroy Galactic Rangers!" each of them barked before they received a Combustor.

"My brilliant creation, AHAHAHAHA!" the scientist cried out just as lightning struck the facility.

"REPAIR DRONE!" the scientist yelled immediately when the lights went out.

Once the power supply had been fixed the factory was up and running again, but something was different. The shock had added one line of code to the computer systems, one that would terminate itself afterwards. Among the bulky warbots, one smaller robot was being assembled, one with two eyes rather than the one eye it's siblings possessed.

When this smaller robot was activated, it had a vision. It saw images of Qwark, Cora, Brax, Elaris, and lastly the Galactic Ranger home base, the Hall of Heroes flash by before one big word showed up.

'TERMINATE'

The robot's eyes turned on in an evil red colour... before the robot blinked as if it had something in his eye. Immediately his eyes became brilliant green rather than blood red. When the robot realized what it had just been tasked with, it could say only one thing.

"Oh, my..."

"STATE YOUR PRIME OB-"

The robot realized it was standing next to a machine. The machine was holding a Combustor in a large, silver claw, but it's green eye was currently looking around, as if it was searching for something.

The small robot waved his hand. "Hello!" he said as the eye noticed him.

"DEFECT DETECTED! PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE DESTRUCTION! IN THREE... TWO..."

The small robot quickly got out of there, but he had not gone unnoticed. "Ooh, a defect!" Drek said as he watched the robot run off. "Go play, Victor."

Immediately the huge, bulky and mean-looking warbot that had been standing next to Drek jumped forward.

Meanwhile, the small robot ran across the catwalks before using a conveniently placed bomb to blow up an air vent.

The robot dove into the air vents. When it dropped down into a large room, it noticed a robot ahead of him. It was small with green eyes and it had a large plate above it's head.

The defect picked up the small robot and put it down near a ledge. The defect then jumped onto the smaller robot, a Springbot, and was launched into the air. After landing on top of the ledge, it grabbed a bomb, blew up another air vent, and dove in.

He soon found himself on another catwalk. He began to ran, but suddenly, the wall behind him exploded and a titanic machine came storming out. "There you are!" the warbot that, according to the defect's database, was Drek's second in command, Victor von Ion.

"Oh, my." the defect said to himself as he ran on. Victor activated his proton-cutter and attempted to cut the defect in two, but the defect jumped over the attack.

"Quit your running, you useless piece of scrap!" Victor yelled.

Victor tried several more times, but every time the defect dodged his attacks, something that made Victor angrier by the second.

The defect rolled under a pipe in an attempt to lose Victor, but Victor carved through the pipes with his Razor Blades. The defect ran on, but Victor was faster.

"Get back here and let's settle this. Warbot to warbot!" Victor yelled.

When Victor was about to catch him though, the defect rolled under another pipe. Victor grinned as he activated his razor blades and cut through the pipes.

Bad move.

As it turned out, the pipes were conveying water to the assembly line. And Victor wasn't waterproof.

"Oh, no! Water!" the defect could hear him say from behind the jet of water spraying from the broken pipes.

Using the moment to his advantage, the defect destroyed another air vent and dove in.

The defect found himself in a room with another robot. A Powerbot.

The defect threw the Powerbot at a Static Charging Station, or SCS for short, and the Powerbot got to work immediately, charging up the SCS which in turn opened the door. Up ahead was a room with a ledge on the left and a ledge on the right, ones that were too high for the defect to reach. Not without help. What's more, the ledge on the right had a bridge leading to another air vent, although the bridge was out.

Therefore the defect used a conveniently placed Springbot to scale the ledge on his left. He noticed another SCS to his left. He dropped down from the ledge and grabbed a Powerbot that had been teleported into the room, before using the Springbot to get back up. He threw the Powerbot at the SCS, and the Powerbot got to work. A door to the defect's right opened up. He walked in and noticed a shiny, green button. He pressed the button, and heard a hissing noise coming from outside. When he got out of the room, he noticed that the bridge had been extended. He dropped down from the ledge and moved the Springbot to the other side of the room, used it to climb the other ledge, grabbed a bomb to his right and then ran across the bridge. He threw the bomb at another air vent, destroying it.

"That was not so hard." the defect said to himself as he dove into the vent.

The air vent led to another catwalk. The defect began to run immediately, but after a few steps, he heard a loud smack behind him. The defect glanced over his shoulder.

Victor von Ion had dropped down onto the catwalk, and was already in pursuit. The defect ran for his life.

"You think you can run from ME?!"

"Not that brute again!" the defect said to himself.

Victor began to use his proton-cutters again, but once again the defect dodged his attacks.

"Get back here, you miserable DEFECT!"

Victor then decided to try something else. He grabbed his Negotiator, a heat-seeking rocket launcher, and fired at the defect.

The defect jumped aside just in time. Victor then decided to shoot a few rockets overhead. "Try outrunning _this_!"

Where the rockets slammed into the catwalk, they started a fire. However, the defect was able to run around them.

"I'm gonna rip you apart, sprocket by sprocket!"

The defect kept dodging attack after attack, but Victor was getting closer. When he was about to grab the defect, the defect rolled under another set of pipes. Victor once again carved the pipes into pieces, but got a splash of water for his trouble.

"Water! Aagh!"

Using the moment to his advantage, the defect destroyed another air vent and jumped in. He came falling out of a garbage shaft and landed in the thrash. When he got up, the head of a defective warbot was stuck on his head. The defect got it off, got out of the thrash and ran straight at an escape pod. He climbed in, but then he noticed a door opening up. Victor came running out, Negotiator already ready to strike.

The defect quickly pressed the 'launch' button, but as he escape pod flew out of the dense atmosphere of Quartu, Victor had one last surprise. He took aim at the escape pod and fired a set of rockets.

Although most of them missed due to the distance, a few managed to hit the escape pod, damaging the engines.

But the escape pod was still flying up. Victor watched it go with a glare and a growl. He would kill that defect, no matter where it would go.

Meanwhile, the defect activated the flight computer. "Computer, set coordinates for the Galactic Ranger home base."

"Destination set. We will never make it, but hey, what are you gonna do?"

The defect's eyes widened. "Oh, dear."

* * *

Ratchet had stayed in his room all day. He had just stared at the posters of the Rangers covering one of the walls of his room. When Ratchet finally got up it was night already. He shook his head and jumped out one of his windows. He landed on the scaffolding next to the garage. He walked on and sat down on the end.

He just stared up at the stars. "I'll never be a ranger." he whispered to himself as he laid back.

But then a distinct roar snapped him out of his thoughts. "Huh?" Ratchet said, getting up. A fireball was shooting through the sky. "What?!"

The fireball shot past him and slammed into the ground not too far from the garage. "Whoa..."

Ratchet quickly ran back into the garage. He got onto his Grav-Bike and got out of there, blasting off to where the fireball had landed.

Inside a huge crater in the ground was a small ship. Ratchet quickly jumped into the crater. Whilst falling, he fired Swingshot at the wall and retracted the cable.

Clinging to the wall, he looked below him. The ship was right underneath him. He began to extend the cable, carefully lowering himself to the ground.

He could hear a voice coming from the ship. "I told you we would never make it, but did you listen? No. Self-destruct active, death imminent."

"There's got to be a better way to say that." Ratchet mumbled as he pried open the ship with his wrench. There was a small, silver robot inside, and it was unconscious. Ratchet grabbed the robot, fired his Swingshot at the edge of the crater and pulled himself up. Meanwhile the ship counted down the moments to self-destruct. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

Ratchet pulled himself out of the crater just in time, the ship exploded violently.

Ratchet carefully laid the robot down on the ground. He grabbed a nearby Glowing Slug with his wrench and used it's green glow to see better as he inspected the robot. "No vector shell damage, sisterboard appears to be intact..."

Suddenly, the robot's green eyes opened up. The robot got up immediately, unintentionally giving Ratchet a headbutt. Ratchet barely had time to yelp in surprise before he stumbled backwards, hand over his hurting eye.

Meanwhile, the robot attempted to run off. "I must get to Aleero city!"

The robot fell due to a damaged sprocket in his left leg. "They are in danger!"

Ratchet recovered from the blow. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, who's in danger?"

"An army is coming. I must warn them.

"Hang on, slow down, you've been in a crash." Ratchet said. "Why don't we say I get you back to my garage, I'll run a diagnostic and have you fixed up in no time."

The robot looked up at him. "Thank you. I appreciate the assistance."

"It's no problem." Ratchet said as he helped the robot get back up. "So, what do I call you?"

"I suppose my proper designation is warbot defect B5429-"

The robot was stopped mid-sentence when he fell again due to his damaged leg.

Ratchet quickly helped him get back up. "Maybe I'll just call you Clank."

Ratchet offered the robot his hand. "My name's Ratchet."

The robot didn't shake his hand, instead, he just looked at it in confusion. "Uuh..." Ratchet muttered as he took the robot's right hand. He began to shake the robot's hand. "Up and down." Ratchet said. The robot just kept staring at him as he kept shaking. "Yeah, there you go, you're a natural!" Ratchet said.

The robot didn't stop. "Okay... you can stop now." Ratchet said, but got no response.

"Or just keep going, that's fine too." Ratchet said.

When he had finally gotten the robot to stop, Ratchet noticed a magnetized hexagon on the robot's back that was compatible with the harness Ratchet wore over his shirt. He usually attached his OmniWrench to it, but he supposed this would work too. He pointed it out to the robot, and the robot retracted his limbs. Ratchet attached the robot to his back, and indeed, it worked.

"Hang on, I'll get us back to the garage." Ratchet said as he got to his Grav-Bike. He attempted to start it, but it wouldn't work.

Ratchet groaned in frustration. "Is there a problem?" Clank asked.

"Out of gas. I suppose we'll have to walk then."

Ratchet began to walk. He used his Swingshot to get across a small gap, before running into another problem. Up ahead, the bridge was out. What's more, the gate was closed.

Then Ratchet noticed a glistering in a crate next to him. "Nice, a Combustor!" Ratchet said as he picked up the weapon. He noticed a green button on the gate, and shot at it. The gate opened up. He noticed another green button behind the gate. Hitting that one made the bridge slide into place.

"Impressive shooting." Clank complimented.

"Thanks." Ratchet said as he crossed the bridge.

That's when he heard a voice. "Fan out and find him, he couldn't have gotten far!"

Ratchet soon noticed the owner of the voice. "Uh-oh! Blarg! What are they doing here?"

"I have information in my data banks that poses a threat to Chairman Drek. He must have tracked my position to your planet so he could get it back."

"Uh-huh." Ratchet said as he approached the Blargian trooper. The Blarg noticed him. "Hey, you! Have you seen a small silver robot?"

"Nope, sorry. Beautiful evening though, isn't it?" Ratchet said.

The Blarg nodded. "Move on, Blargian business."

Ratchet nodded and walked on. However, upon passing the Blarg, the light coming from a lantern was reflected into the Blarg's eye by Clank's head. Of course, this drew the Blarg's attention. "What the?!"

He grabbed his weapon. "The defect! You lying space rat!"

Ratchet quickly somersaulted backwards to avoid the shots. He hid behind a crate, giving himself the second he needed to grab his Combustor. He would have used his Fusion Grenade if it wasn't for the fact that the Rangers had confiscated the ammunition of the weapon.

Ratchet opened fire on the Blarg, the plasma bullets making the Blarg stumble backwards before Ratchet knocked him out cold with a swing of his wrench.

He used his Swingshot to cross a broken bridge, before sunning into more Blarg. Unfortunately, they had seen Ratchet beating up their colleague. "Terminate the Lombax!" one of them yelled as they opened fire. And thus Ratchet returned fire.

Luckily for Ratchet, he was way smarter than the Blarg, and got behind a large boulder for cover while the Blarg stayed out in the open.

After shooting down a few, a Blargian dropship swooped in and dropped off two more Blargain troopers.

Ratchet quickly grabbed his com-link, a handy tool equipped on his belt, and dialed the number of the garage.

After a few seconds, he could hear the tired voice of Grimroth. "Grimroth Razz garage service. How can I help you?"

"Grim, listen to me! It's Ratchet! I want you to lock down the garage doors and then head down into the shelter! I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Wha?"

"There's a Blargian invasion going on, Grim!"

That sure woke Grimroth up. "Copy that, Ratchet!" he said immediately.

Luckily, a few nearby ammunition crates turned out to contain Fusion Grenades, and Ratchet exploited this opportunity immediately by throwing a few bombs at the Blarg, successfully taking them down.

Ratchet ran on and used a Swingshot to cross a large gap. As he landed on the next platform however, the same dropship as before came swooping in once again, but this time it came to a stop in front of the Lombax and activated it's weaponry.

"Is that a Blarg dropship?" Ratchet asked.

"Correct, model X6Z to be exact, also known as the 'Dropship of Death'." Clank replied.

"Great." Ratchet muttered as the dropship opened fire. Ratchet was able to jump aside in time before returning fire with his Fusion Grenade. Luckily for Ratchet, he hit the cockpit window, shattering it and leaving the pilot vulnerable. Another Fusion Grenade made quick work of the pilot, resulting in the dropship spinning out of control and slamming into the plateau. Ratchet crossed another gap before dropping down from a ledge. He was almost at the garage.

But something was wrong with the garage.

"Oh, no, the Blarg are all over Grim's garage! Grim, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, kid, but I ain't opening up 'til the coast is clear."

"Just hold tight, Grim. I got this."

Ratchet hid behind a few rocks. He could hear a few Blarg speak.

"Of all the jobs Drek could have given us, we gotta look for some defect!"

"Ah, it's not that bad. We've got clean air, the heat of the sun, never had this much heat since – YOWW!"

"What? What happened?"

"I just got bitten by a mosquito! Yeesh, did you see the size of that thing?!"

That's when Ratchet crashed the party by throwing a grenade in between the two Blarg. With those two eliminated, he moved on to the garage. He threw a grenade a the group of Blarg in front of the garage before taking out the survivors with his Combustor.

"I've got you on holo-vid, there are more enemies moving in!" Grim warned.

"Incoming dropship detected." Clank said. Sure enough, another Blargian aircraft came swooping in. Repeating his earlier technique, Ratchet threw two bombs at the windscreen, and it worked too, the drop ship slamming into the ground before the enemy forces could drop down from the ship.

But then a group of warbots came running in. "Warbots!" Ratchet yelled as he took cover.

"I'm down in the shelter. Ratchet, this place is a mess! Disassembled weapons and engine parts everywhere! Didn't you tell me you were going to clean it up last week?" Grim said.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that, got held up on a project!"

Grim sighed. He grabbed one of the books lying around, and read the cover. "A Beginner's Guide to Quantum Burst Engines?"

"Just throw that anywhere, I have it bookmarked!"

Then Grim noticed another book. "What's this? Fun With Singularities and Other Cataclysmic Events?"

"That's really more for educational purposes!" Ratchet replied as he rolled out of the way of a few plasma bullets.

"It is always good to meet a fellow academic." Clank said.

"Really I just look at the pictures and then, you know, wing it."

Finally the last warbot was destroyed, a plasma bullet hitting it's reactor core, resulting in an impressive explosion.

"Alright, Grim, coast is clear. Can you open up?" Ratchet said.

Grimroth coughed. "Ratchet, what in Zoni's name just exploded?!"

"Sorry 'bout that, Grim. Listen, get my tools ready. I just found something in the desert I need to look at." Ratchet said as he walked into the garage.

"Interesting. What kind of factory is this?" Clank asked.

"This? This is just a garage. Lived here since I was a kid. C'mon, let's get you fixed up." Ratchet said as he used his Swingshot to climb up to his room.

While Ratchet worked on Clank's leg, Clank explained Drek's plan to attack the Hall of Heroes, the home base of the Galactic Rangers, in Aleero City.

"I can totally help!" Ratchet said, excited, as he finished working on Clank's leg.

"Oh, I could not ask a civilian to get involved in something so dangerous."

Ratchet thought fast. "I'm not just a civilian. You see..." he said as he walked over to his posters of the Galactic Rangers. "The Rangers are actually my, uh... friends! Why do you think I have so many pictures of them?"

Clank scanned the images. "But why are you not in any of them?"

Ratchet had to improvise. "Well, _someone_ had to take the pictures, right? I mean come on, I even have a ship!"

Clank got up and walked over to Ratchet. He stared down at what Ratchet was pointing at.

Mr. Micron's ship, that Grimroth had managed to repair. As Clank watched, the left engine sparked, and some plates fell off. Perhaps it wasn't quite fully repaired yet.

"Eh... it dis-assembles so it can infiltrate enemy strongholds. So, what do you say?" Ratchet quickly said.

* * *

Ratchet and Clank were flying to Planet Kerwan in Mr. Micron's ship when Ratchet noticed something. "That's strange, I'm picking up something from Novalis."

Clank began investigating the signal. "It appears to be some sort of distress signal, but it is being jammed by a Blargian signal dampener."

However, they were both so busy with the distress signal that they failed to notice the ship flying behind them.

The Blarg grinned evilly as he fired the weapons of his Blargian Saucer, completely destroying the right engine of Mr. Micron's ship.

Ratchet desperately attempted to regain control, but it was no use. With the engines failing, the gravity of the nearby planet Novalis began to pull on the ship.

"Don't worry, the computer would have told us if we were in any real danger." Ratchet said.

Ironically, that's when the computer spoke up. "Fatal crash imminent. Would you like to record your last will and testament?"

Ratchet sighed. "Admittedly, that's not superpromising."

But then the left engine exploded, and if that wasn't bad enough, they were shooting into Novalis' atmosphere with a fatal speed.

Ratchet and Clank screamed and held on to each other for dear life as they shot at the unforgiving ground.

* * *

 **Alright, so that was the first chapter! With 7000 words I really worked hard on this one, but I doubt the chapters ahead will be as long as this one, I usually write about 4000 words long chapters. Some chapters will definitely be longer though.  
**

 **Anyhow, meet the mystery man whose-identity-will-not-yet-be-revealed! Some of you will definitely know who he is though, or what he's up to.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, if so, please take a moment to review, favorite or follow. Although it's not necessary, and form of feedback is greatly appreciated. Take care everyone, and (hopefully) see you all in the next chapter!**


	2. Miraculous Survival

**I'm back at last! Sorry for the delay, everyone, I was finishing up another story (Epilogue 2, a Ratchet & Clank / Star Fox crossover) so I put all of my other stories on hold for a moment. Anyhow, I'm back now, and expect new chapter for both this story and Zoniborn. In fact, expect frequent chapters since I've regained my inspiration! Huzzah!**

 **Reviews:**

 **Desertstorm272: "** ** _Nice. I'm glad to see a real Ranger standing up for Ratchet_ "  
I'm really glad you like it! However, I think you're mistaken, the man in white is not a Ranger... so the question is, who is he, and what are his intentions?  
**

 **reddevil47: "** ** _Interested on how you will develop this, can't wait to read the next chap and always remember Mr. Zurkon is here to be your friend... sike! Mr. Zurkon only kills!_ "  
I'm glad you like it so far! And wait no more, from now on this story will receive new chapters by the truckload, I'm already halfway done with chapter 3! And Mr. Zurkon, who doesn't love a robotic bodyguard that comes with free rude comments for your enemies? Although I do find Mr. Zurkon quite underpowered in the PS4 game considering enemies can destroy your Zurkon, so if you use him when you need him, when you're under heavy fire, he's quite useless because he'll be destroyed almost instantly. Therefore training Mr. Zurkon up to the highest level took ages! I hope Insomniac will either fix this or leave it out in the next game. Anyhow, enjoy!**

 **Jadzia Kira Dax: "** ** _I tthink this is a pretty awesome story so far! Also, as for our mystery man, I have a very good feeling that I know who it is..._ "  
Thank you, I'm really glad you like it so far! I plan on adding to the story though, and big time as well! I recall Insomniac promising three new planets in the PS4 game... and I'm still looking for them. So, I plan on adding them myself... Also, I have a very good feeling that you are correct. Although, of course, I can only say: read to find out...**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _Dang...the start of another new story. I'll be back for more, count on it._ "  
I'm glad you like it so far! I hope the future chapters live up to your expectations. Considering what I have planned though, I think you're gonna love it.**

* * *

Ratchet and Clank yelled in fear as the surface of Novalis got closer, and fast. Ratchet couldn't believe what was happening. He would die, mere hours after the adventure he craved had started at last. It would've been funny in some way if it weren't so sad.

Ratchet's life flashed before his eyes: all those days spent at the garage, Grim teaching him how to fix a G-diffuser, showing off Mr. Micron's ship...

Wait, didn't that end with Mr. Micron getting shot out of the ship by the ejector seat?

Ratchet's eyes widened. He had one shot at this.

When they were about to slam into the ground, Ratchet activated the ejector seats, the two heroes getting shot into the sky while the ship slammed into the ground below them with an ear-shattering crash.

The force of the ejector seat plus the shockwave of something within the ship exploding completely neutralized the speed at which they had been falling towards the planet earlier, and thus when Ratchet and Clank landed, they were okay, although Ratchet had landed rather uncomfortably.

Ratchet tiredly stretched his back, hearing a satisfying pop. "Ergh, why did I have to land on a rock out of all things? Clank?"

Clank was standing by what was left of Mr. Micron's ship. The ship was a wreck, the dents making it hard to even recognize the ship.

"Our ship has been ruined!" Clank said.

"It's damaged, but, I've fixed worse." Ratchet said, hopeful. "Come on, maybe there's someone in town who can help us."

Ratchet and Clank took in their surroundings. They had crashed on a small area overlooking a huge, and I mean huge, crater. Two rivers ran through the valley, and a city had been built in the distance. To the duo's right was a cave system leading up to some sort of metal door in the wall, while there was also a path behind them.

"Wait, is that Raritanium?" Clank said, pointing at a silver rock near the cliff that had three shiny crystals sticking out of it. Ratchet smashed the crystals loose with his wrench before collecting them. "Yeah, it is."

"Hey, you!" a voice suddenly said, nearly giving both heroes a heart attack. The source of the voice turned out to be a Gadgetron vendor, a cyan box placed a few feet up ahead. Neither of the two heroes had even noticed it. The vendor spoke again. "Looks like you've got some Raritanium! Come see me and let's do some upgrades."

Ratchet walked over to the vendor. After a quick tutorial, Ratchet had learned that Gadgetron vendors accepted Raritanium and in return offered upgrades to Gadgetron's weaponry. Ratchet used the Raritanium he had to increase the maximum ammunition of his Bomb Glove. After restocking on ammunition, Ratchet noticed something.

"Pyrocitor? What's that?"

Ratchet opened the info tab. Apparently the Pyrocitor was a bulky, orange, two-handed weapon that fired a line of pure fire in front of the user. Unfortunately Ratchet couldn't afford the weapon, otherwise he would have bought it instantly. "I'll come back later." he mumbled to himself as he walked away from the vendor and regrouped with Clank. After Clank had attached himself to Ratchet's back, the duo used an elevator to lower themselves to the bottom of the crater.

It was quite clear why they had picked up a distress signal, aircrafts were dropping bombs on the buildings up ahead, and ground teams in the form of small yellow robots with sharp teeth and bulky yellow robots with a grenade launcher were destroying stuff on the ground.

As Ratchet walked past a few of the smaller robots, they jumped up with a loud, mechanical chirp and charged at Ratchet. The robots' faces were introduced to a wrench shortly after.

"Of course, they have to be hostile." Ratchet mumbled as he fired his Combustor at a few grenade robots. As they walked on, they came across a statue. Ratchet recognized the person immediately. "It's a Cora Veralux statue! She's the youngest recruit ever to be selected for the Galactic Rangers!"

Ratchet walked up a staircase, but was forced to run back down the stairs when two grenade robots came running out of the building ahead and opened fire. Ratchet returned fire with a few grenades of his own, Ratchet's Fusion Grenades proving more than capable of taking the two machines out. Moving on, Ratchet walked into a building on one end of a large bridge.

However, was he was about to walk onto the bridge, a plane swooped down from the sky and fired a few missiles at the bridge. Although the bridge was riddled with holes, Ratchet managed to get across, only to be awaited by three more grenade robots on the other side.

After the three robots had been dealt with, Ratchet took the stairs down to ground level and fought his way to a smaller crater up ahead. In the middle of the crater, a ship had landed, although the ship was being shelled by various grenade robots as well as a few... Blarg troopers.

Clank picked up a transmission coming from the ship, and immediately he told Ratchet what he heard.

"This is a transmission for the Galactic Rangers! Please, we need assistance! This is Aggnogg Buckwash, mayor of the Tobruk Crater of Novalis!"

"Mayor Buckwash will not last long without our help..." Clank added.

Ratchet nodded. Within minutes he had taken out the advance team with Fusion Grenades.

Clank picked up a Blargian radio transmission. "Someone's taken out our advance team! Bravo team, move in and execute!"

Immediately Blarg were teleported in. "We're gonna make a rug outta you!" one of them yelled. Ratchet frowned. "That's just gross, you know." he yelled as he dodged a few Blarg shots.

A gunfight with the Combustor followed, the Blargs soon found themselves completely outmatched.

A voice came from within the spacecraft. "Hello? Is it safe to come out?"

"Yes, you can come out now." Ratchet said. "The Blarg are gone."

A ramp in the back of the ship opened up and an old man came walking out. He had blue skin and his eyes had a slightly yellowish tint, while his irises were deep blue. A pair of glasses rested on his nose, and he had large blue eyebrows and a large blue mustache. "Oh, thank you, THANK YOU! I thought we were done for sure!"

"We are happy to be of assistance. Why is Drek trying to kill you?" Clank asked.

"It's my nephew, Skidd McMarx."

"Wait, Skicc McMarx, the pro hoverboarder?" Ratchet asked.

Mayor Buckwash nodded. He sent me this infobot from Aridia," he continued, pointing at an infobot hovering behind him, "and the Blarg have been after me ever since. Here, take a look."

The infobot hovered forward and opened it's television screen. It began to play a video apparently shot from a mobile phone. The video showed Skidd, who was holding the camera, who was standing in front of a building. The building was hard to make out because the camera was focused on the foreground, on Skidd. "Hey uncle Buckwash! Skidd McMarx here, you know, your nephew." Skidd said with a wink.

Skidd's skin was yellow in color and he appeared to be wearing some sort of headgear that he could move in front of his eyes, like safety goggles. He also had three spikes on the back of his head, no hair, black eyebrows and a small black beard. He then panned the camera to another Rilgarian. This Rilgarian had green skin and purple tinted glasses. "My agent and I are at the awesome grand opening of the McMarx Sports Shack here on Aridia, and boy has it been a trip!"

Skidd then focused the camera on the building. It was made of metal plating, and two golden statues of Skidd stood in front of the door, giving each other a high five. Skidd appeared on screen again. "I've gotten to meet all kinds of people!"

Skidd then showed a few pictures. In the first image, he was standing next to two male Rilgarians with white skin and one female Rilgarian with green skin. "Fans..."

Then, for a brief moment, it showed an image of Skidd at a party with a Galactic Ranger robot in the background waving at the camera, while the reporter Darla Gratch could be seen in the background with her hands in front of her face to prevent being photographed. "Celebrities..."

The next image showed Skidd standing next to four eerily similar looking men while giving the camera a thumbs up. "My Gadgetron sponsors..."

The last image showed Skidd sitting behind a desk, signing some sort of paper while three Blarg waited in line. "I even got to sign autographs for these odd-looking creatures called 'the Blarg'. I guess they're doing something here on Aridia."

The images then showed the first Blarg in line giving Skidd a tablet, then Skidd and the Blarg giving the camera a thumbs up while the tablet was lying on the table in front of Skidd. "Wait, hold on a second..."

The video then showed the world from the perspective of the camera of Skidd's mobile phone. The camera was pointed at the tablet that had been lying on the table in the images, apparently Skidd had absentmindedly grabbed it, figuring that it was his. The tablet showed schematics of a ship pulling along several tanks. "Hyyyyydrooooo-harrrrrrvester, Super-Illegal Water Displacement Apparatus."

The camera then showed a nervous looking Skidd. "Uhm... I don't think I was supposed to have this."

"Stop him! He's got the schematics!" a voice barked in the background. Immediately all hell broke loose, plasma bullets shot past Skidd as he ran away. "Help! Someone, call my agent! Call my publicist! Actually, don't call either of those people, call someone who cares about me!"

The camera was hit by a bullet and was shot out of Skidd's hand. As the video ended, they could hear Skidd yell as he ran off. "I don't wanna diiiiiiiiie!"

"Sounds like Skidd McMarx is in trouble, we've got to get to Aridia!" Ratchet said as Clank hopped onto his back.

"Agreed, but we must first repair our ship." Clank said.

Once they got back to the ship, they decided to explore the cave next to their ship. Ratchet stepped into the water, but was immediately knocked off his feet by the stream. Moving on to a different tactic, Ratchet used the rocks to climb further into the cave, before he found a gap in front of him.

Apparently that's when a Blargian bomb hit the surface nearby, for a few large boulders came falling from the ceiling. "Look out!" Clank said.

Using the boulders as stepping stones, Ratchet was able to reach a set of oddly placed pistons that seemed to have a platform on top of them. Using them as an elevator, Ratchet was able to reach the door built within the rocky wall. Once they were inside, they took a look around. They were in a metallic room, with machinery built into the walls. However, mechanical chirps snapped Ratchet out of his thoughts. Four of those small, yellow robots from earlier were charging at him.

Luckily, they still were no match for the OmniWrench. After they had been dealt with, Ratchet reached the door up ahead by jumping from wall to wall. He wondered what imbecile had come up with the layout of this facility, it could hardly be more impractical.

Ratchet walked into a larger, circular room, with a gap in the middle of the room. Ratchet jumped to the other side. "Ratchet!" Clank warned. Ratchet immediately dropped to the ground, and a plasma bullet shot through where his head had been. He quickly got up and rolled out of the way of another bullet before returning fire.

After the Blarg that had been hiding behind a large pipe had been dealt with, Ratchet jumped onto another 'piston-elevator' to reach the next hallway. The door at the end opened up and a Blarg came running in, although a bomb to the face made him fly back into the room he came out of.

The next room was large and rectangular, with two gaps in the floor with water running through them. Ratchet noticed two Blarg and a yellow grenadier robot, and quickly got to work.

Three minutes later, only one Blarg remained. Ratchet got out of cover and fired the Combustor, but he got back into cover with a loud hiss when he got shot in the arm. "Ouch... that hurt."

"You're gonna die, Lombax!" the Blarg yelled. Ratchet got up and fired his Combustor again. "Lead the way." he growled as the last Blarg was defeated.

Ratchet reached down into the water to clean the wound on his arm. Clank noticed something though. Placed in the corner was a glass box with a shiny, blue ball of energy inside of it. "Ratchet!"

Ratchet got up and turned around. "What's wrong?"

"Do you see that box in the corner?"

"Yeah?"

"That box contains Nanotech."

"Nanotech?"

"Nanotech is a revolutionary substance, mineral water that contains special microscopic robots named Nanites. They have the unique capability that, once they find themselves inside someone's body, no matter if it is a robotic or organic body, they will rebuild it from the inside out."

"...That sounds a bit gross."

"They basically instantly heal any injury detected. However, every Nanite has limited healing capabilities, more severely injured people may need more Nanotech."

"That's more like it." Ratchet said as he smashed the box with his wrench. Immediately the glowing blue ball shot at him and vanished in a bright flash when it touched Ratchet's skin.

"What is happening now?"

"Check your arm."

Ratchet did as he was told, and to his surprise, the wound was gone. "It's gone! Not even a scar!"

"Indeed, Nanotech is extremely accurate."

Moving on, Ratchet used another set of piston-elevators to reach a set of catwalks hanging from the ceiling. The catwalks lead to a door, but when Ratchet was about to reach the door, it slid open and more yellow robots came charging out.

However, one grenade sent them slamming against the wall with a loud 'KLANK'. As Ratchet walked down the hallway, he could hear a voice coming from behind the door at the far end. "Consarn it! These darn Blarg have jammed the transmission! Who's gonna save us now?!"

Once the two doors slid open, Ratchet was introduced to a rather... awkward sight. A man was standing a few feet ahead of him, leaning forward and apparently working on some sort of machine in front of him. The leaning forward part, however, meant that he gave everyone walking in through the doors behind him an unwanted view of his behind.

The man turned around. "Oh, hello there! I'm glad you're here. I've been... heyyyy, have we met before? 'Cause I'm getting a touch of the ol' deja vu."

The man had blue skin and was wearing a white shirt and brown overalls. He had three spikes on his shoulders and one on his forehead, along with black eyebrows and a black beard. The glasses completed the look, and the wrench he was holding indicated that the man was a plumber.

"I don't think so." Ratchet said, confused.

"Huh, guess the ol' think tank could use a good plumbin'!" the plumber said with a laugh as he tapped his wrench against his head. "Anyhoo, I've been trying to get a distress call to the Galactic Rangers ever since Drek's forces showed up."

"The entire region is overrun with Blargian drop ships. We need to get you outta here." Ratchet said.

"Oh, I can't go anywhere until I get (the plumber noticed the infobot he was looking for behind him. He quickly grabbed the robot and showed it to Ratchet and Clank) this here infobot into the hands of Captain Qwark."

"We were on our way to speak with him when our ship was shot down. Perhaps we chould take a look?" Clank offered.

"Oh, sure thing. I swiped it from one of those Blarg soldiers." the plumber said as he pressed the 'play' button on the infobot. "Here you go."

The screen showed Chairman Drek in his office. "Oh, hello there! I'm Alonzo Drek, chairman of Drek Indurstries. Many of you may be wondering,"

The screen turned to a camera feed showing a large, red warship. There were rows after rows of warbots walking up a ramp into the warship. "Why are 300 heavily-armed warbots marching ominously toward a class G dreadship?"

The screen then showed Drek on some sort of small, hovering vehicle flying past a hologram of the Blargian emblem. "The answer is simple, friends: progress!"

The screen then showed an aerial view of a factory spewing out tons of poisonous gases into the atmosphere. "Years ago we were driven underground by pollution that," Drek came flying into view on the vehicle " _May or may not_ – but most definitely was – caused by my father's company."

The screen then showed Drek in front of a hologram as he teasingly dropped his pen before his robotic assistant could take it from him. "Since then we've shifted focus from robotics..."

Then the screen showed Drek standing next to a hologram of a planet. "To planet-building!"

The screen then showed... Victor doing some aerobics with the warbots? "Now that our project is nearing completion, we must do everything we can to stay on schedule. In this case, it means our friendly army of warbots must vanquish those who would seek to stop us."

Drek then popped up amongst the warbots walking towards the warship. "The good news? They don't know we're coming!"

The screen then showed Drek in his office again. As Drek started talking the screen got smaller, moving into the background as various images of Blarg, warbots and planets moved past before the screen showing Drek shot forward and filled the infobot's screen again. "So! Sit back, relax, and take comfort in the knowledge that Drek Industries is working for you!"

As Drek stopped talking the screen seemed to freeze while the Blargian logo appeared and a man quickly said "Drek Industries is not working for you."

However, it was revealed that the screen wasn't frozen but that Drek was just standing there like a fool when his eyes twitched for a moment, looking off-screen for a split second.

The plumber, in the meantime, had walked over to what appeared to be an open sewer pipe on the right side of the room. As Ratchet and Clank walked over to him, he spoke up. "I see you're having a little transportation trouble. Why don't I meet you by your ship? We'll get you squared away and ready to fly!"

The plumber jumped into the water and immediately the water dragged him down the pipes. "Geronimoooo!" he yelled as the angle of the pipe ahead made him vanish from view. "Did that guy just slide down a sewer pipe?" Ratchet asked, baffled, as he and Clank walked closer. Clank frowned and reached down into the water. "My scanners indicate no presence of bacteria or any kind of organic waste products. The water is clean."

"Then what kind of pipe is this?" Ratchet wondered out loud before shaking is head. "Well, it does look like the fastest way down. Let's give it a shot." he said as Clank hopped onto his back. Ratchet tried to carefully drop down into the water, but the strong current dragged him with it the moment Ratchet's feet touched the water.

Ratchet and Clank screamed – Ratchet in excitement and Clank in terror – as they shot through the pipelines before suddenly finding themselves sliding out of the same cave that they had entered earlier, coming to a stop a few feet from their ship. Or, what was left of their ship.

The plumber was already waiting for them. "Alright, let's see what we've got here."

As Ratchet and the plumber got to work, Clank made a scan of the ship to check if the software was still functional. After a good few hours of work, the ship was good as new. After saying goodbye to the plumber, who still had work to do in the city inside the crater, Ratchet and Clank discussed where to go next. "I think we should go rescue Skidd."

"I do not think that that is wise, Aleero city-"

"When will that attack take place?" Ratchet asked, having noticed a date in the top-right corner of Drek's video.

"Tomorrow."

"Then why don't we go rescue Skidd first, he's in danger _right now_ while Aleero city isn't."

"A fair point." Clank said as he climbed into the ship and sat down on the passenger seat while Ratchet sat down behind the controls and entered the coordinates of planet Aridia. As they flew off, however, a figure was watching from one of the hills, standing in the shadow of a tree. "Interesting..." he mumbled as he watched the duo fly off.

* * *

 **Alright, now before I sign off, I need to inform you all of something: next week is my final test week for this year, next Friday is my last test. Until then I'll be focusing on learning, I plan to give it all I've got one last time, I mean, they're the last tests after all.  
**

 **Furthermore, last Monday I've started uploading Ratchet & Clank videos on my YouTube channel, you should be able to find a link at my profile. The video I've uploaded so far is my playthrough of Pokitaru, and as always, stupid things happen. Ratchet stays breathing though, don't worry. No Lombaxes were killed in the makings of the video. Clank wasn't harmed either, for that matter. Next up on the videos list is a video filled with weird and often hilarious glitches I've encountered in the game.**

 **Anyhow, (hopefully) see you all in the next chapter!**


	3. Bigger (Sand)fish to Fry

**Alright, I'm back at last! Sorry for the delay, I was... uh... battling a surprise invasion of aliens! Totally has nothing to do with me recently having purchased Undertale...**

 **Anyhow, I'm back! My test week went surprisingly well, and I also passed the Cambridge Exam! In fact, on a scale of 1-10, I scored 9.8!**

 **Moving on, let me reply to the reviews.**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _Another day, another chapter. And good luck to you on all your tests.  
Meanwhile, I'll go check out those videos for myself. (As long as there is no man... er, lombax-eating sharks involved, they should be cool.)  
I'll be back for the next chapter though; count on it.  
Max out._"  
Thank you! Hope you enjoy(ed) the videos, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.**

 **Jadzia Ezri Dax: "** ** _Again, wonderfully written chapter! This is such an amazing story! It's fantastic!  
P. S. I decided that my OC for Zoniborn was just too difficult to redesign, so I'll see if I can make a new Zoniborn OC or something.  
P. S. S. Live long and prosper! Lol! :)_"  
Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.  
P.S. Alright, just let me know when you've come up with a new OC.  
P.S.S. Same to you!**

 **Now, without further ado, enjoy chapter three of True Heroes.**

* * *

Ratchet landed the ship on a landing pad not too far from where Skidd had been standing when he had called his uncle.

"Alright, where should we look first?" Ratchet said. "I think the Sports Shack, I mean, Skidd knows the layout of that thing which would give him an advantage, while running out into the fields would be suicide."

"A fair point." Clank said. "However, in the video Skidd was running that way." Clank said, pointing at a passage heading out into the rocky fields. "True, but that was about an hour ago, he could be anywhere by now. Besides, we could use the Sports Shack as a vantage point."

"Clever." Clank said. "I could use my infrared scanners to detect Skidd, that platform up there would be the optimal vantage point." Clank said, pointing at the Sports Shack's uppermost level.

Clank hopped onto Ratchet's back. Ratchet immediately walked over to a nearby Gadgetron Venor and, now having enough bolts, purchased the Pyrocitor.

"Yeah! Now get out there and set the world on fire!" the vendor yelled as Ratchet walked away. "Okay, Gadgetron pushing me to 'set the world on fire' is a bit concerning if you ask me." Ratchet mumbled.

As Ratchet jumped across a narrow stream of quicksand, a few creatures popped out of the sand. They were red in color, with two legs, a shark-like fin on their back, and a large maw with a concerning amount of sharp teeth.

"What _are_ these things?" Ratchet said to Clank as he used the Pyrocitor against them, the miniature flamethrower proving to be very effective against the scary but weak creatures. "They are Sandsharks, predators native to Aridia. Their bite is poisonous, but their bones are hollow to enhance movement speed, though this also means that they are very fragile. Try using your wrench."

As Ratchet crossed another stream of quicksand, he noticed a bulky looking robot up ahead. The robot had a flamethrower instead of a right hand, and the flamethrower was attached to a large, red tank that the robot wore on his back that presumably carried fuel for the flamethrower.

The robot was standing on a circular, metal platform, and was fighting off a bunch of Sandsharks. Ratchet decided to use Clank's advice and threw his wrench at the Sandsharks. Suddenly, a female, robot voice spoke through speakers standing on various support struts around the area. "Attention future consumer. The McMarx Sports Shack appreciates your excitement. However, you are now trespassing in a restricted area. Have a nice day!"

"Nice." Ratchet mumbled. "Am I detecting sarcasm?" Clank asked with a smile. "Yep, I'm helping out one of their workers and this is the thanks I get."

After the last Sandshark was finally dead, Ratchet let his wrench rest on his shoulder. He turned to the robot. "No worries."

In response however, the robot aimed it's flamethrower at Ratchet. The Lombax' eyes widened and he rolled out of the way just in time. "The hell?!"

The robot kept firing at Ratchet. Ratchet growled and returned fire quite literally, the Pyrocitor melting away the robot's circuitry and causing it to collapse like a puppet without strings. Ratchet headed to an elevator that would take him up to the next level of the Sports Shack. However, two of those flamethrower-robots dropped down from above, landing in front of Ratchet. "Oh, great, more of them!"

Clank hummed in thought as Ratchet took cover behind a boulder. The tank these constructobots are wearing contains methane gas, detonating it would be, shall we say, 'effective'."

"Alright." Ratchet said as he threw a Fusion Grenade over the boulder he was crouching behind. A massive explosion followed, and when Ratchet carefully got up, all that was left of the constructobots were a few dented metal parts. Moving on, Ratchet got onto the elevator. The robotic voice spoke again. "Attention future consumer. We thank you for your interest in the McMarx sports shack. However, your refusal to leave has forces us to activate the constructobots. Have a nice day!"

Clank frowned as Ratchet got off the elevator. "I am detecting a familiar signature... I believe there is a gadget from Drek industries nearby."

"Where?"

"Near the area we decided to use as a vantage point. Go left here."

Ratchet used his SwingShot to swing across a few still unfinished floors, traversing the Sports Shack as a familiar voice spoke. "Hey, Skidd here! You know, you can act cool and look cool but unless you don't sound cool, you won't be cool! So sign up for one of my cool-seminars, where you'll learn to look, sound and even _smell_ cool, like me! Haha!"

At last, Ratchet reached a large, circular room. The room was like a huge indoor pool with a narrow path heading to a platform in the center. "Alright, Clank, where's the gadget?"

Clank noticed a pedestal next to Ratchet, but it was empty. "It should be right here, but it seems to have been knocked off it's pedestal. It seems to have fallen into the water."

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Great." he said as he jumped into the water. He took a deep breath and dove into the depths. He immediately noticed that the pool was in fact a water storage for the Sports Shack, the large fan at the bottom keeping the water in motion. Thankfully the bottom was quite far away otherwise the current would've dragged Ratchet along. He noticed a platform below him with a bolt crank on it, and a door right next to it. The problem was that he couldn't possibly turn the bolt crank while swimming. He then noticed the gadget he was looking for. It was blue and bulky, basically a miniature storage tank with a handle. Ratchet resurfaced, took a deep breath, and dove towards the gadget. Unfortunately Ratchet wasn't good at holding his breath, he could stay under for about 15 seconds. While that was surprisingly little, Ratchet had been living on Veldin, a backwater planet. In fact the only swimming lessons he'd had were just in case he'd ever fall into the water, not because he'd swim very often. That is, on Veldin he wouldn't swim often.

Thankfully Ratchet managed to resurface in time, climbing back on dry land with a sour expression. "Great, now my fur is soaked and my clothes are wet."

"At least you have acquired a new gadget." Clank said.

"Yes, but, what is it?"

Clank zoomed in on the pedestal that was supposed to hold the gadget. 'Portable Hydrodisplacer, miniature Hydroharvester prototype', it read. "Ratchet, you are holding a Portable Hydrodisplacer. You can use it to move various fluids as long as there is a pump with a compatible connector."

"Got it." Ratchet said as he pressed the front of the gadget against a pump. Immediately the Hydrodisplacer was filled with a swimming pool worth of water, and the water level in the room dropped significantly, lowering just enough for Ratchet to turn the bolt crank. Ratchet dropped down into the water and swam to the platform. As he turned the bolt crank the door opened ever so slightly until it was open at last. Walking out the door, Ratchet used the filled Hydrodisplacer to fill an empty basin up ahead so he could swim across. Thankfully the Hydrodisplacer wasn't as heavy as a whole swimming pool when filled, otherwise Ratchet wouldn't have been able to lift it.

Once Ratchet climbed out of the water, he noticed that he was standing exactly where he wanted to be, on the highest level of the Sports Shack. Clank got down from Ratchet's back and began to scan the area in infrared. Immediately an area slightly to the left of him caught his interest. "Ratchet, there seems to be someone hiding from hostile gunfire over there." Clank said, pointing at a small area near an excavation site.

"Alright." Ratchet said. "We better be quick then."

Fortunately there was an elevator nearby that brought the duo back to where they had first entered the sports shack. Instead of going left however, this time they went right. Ratchet ran across a conveyor belt to a platform where a constructobot was welding some plating together.

Upon noticing the Lombax, the robot attempted to incinerate him with a blast of fire, but before he could do so the robot was knocked off the platform by a wrench and sent falling into the quicksand, where the sand short-circuited the robot's motherboard. Ratchet watched as the robot sank into the sand.

"That sinking feeling." Ratchet said as he walked on. After climbing up to the next platform, Ratchet had to run across a conveyor even faster as a constructobot started to fire small waves of... well... fire at the Lombax. Fortunately the constructobot could aim as well as it could think, so Ratchet got through unharmed before slamming the constructobot to bits with his OmniWrench. As he moved on to an elevator that would take him to the bottom of the excavation site, the elevator already came up with a constructobot on it, one that was quickly knocked out cold before Ratchet stepped onto the elevator.

Once they were at the bottom of the excavation site, Ratchet grabbed his Pyrocitor again as a bunch of sandsharks popped up. After dealing with the sandsharks Ratchet began his ascent, having to battle one last constructobot and having to climb up various ladders before finally reaching the area that Clank had pointed out.

It wasn't Skidd however, though they knew they were close upon seeing who it was.

"Come on, give him up and no one gets hurt!" Ratchet could hear a Blarg yell.

"I'm tellin' ya, I don't know where he is! You know celebrities these days, they do whatever they want! We can work this out, can't we?"

"Oh, we'll work it out alright, by feeding you to the sandsharks!" the Blarg yelled back.

Ratchet ran towards the man hiding from the gunfire behind a boulder. The man noticed him. "Help! These brutes are trying to kill me! Hey, get them off my back and I'll make you famous!"

Fame or not, Ratchet had already made his decision. The three Blargian troopers, meanwhile, kept firing, until one of them saw something flying right at them. "Holy momma! GRENADE!" he yelled before the explosion sent all three Blarg flying into a wall.

A Blargian drop ship came swooping down, dropping off three more Blargian troopers. "There's more of them! Get them off my back and I'll make you famous!" the man yelled from behind the boulder.

Ratchet made quick work of one of the Blarg with his Combustor before taking cover behind a tree.

"That was impressive! Have either of you thought about a career in professional sports?" the man yelled.

As the last Blarg fell, however, a Blargian helicopter came flying down. Luckily, Ratchet's fourth shot hit the rotors, causing the helicopter to spin out of control and slam into the wall.

"Good work, kid. I think that's all of them." The man said as he came walking from behind the boulder. Ratchet walked over to him.

"Boy, am I happy to see a coupla friendly faces. I've been running from those Blarg all night!" the man said. It was a Rilgarian with green skin, no hair, three spikes on the back of his head, three fingers on each hand, purple glasses and a microphone. He was wearing a black coat over a purple shirt with Skidd's face on it, and a golden necklace, black jeans and expensive-looking black shoes. He had a short, narrow black beard running from his lower lip to his chin, his eyes were yellow with black pupils and no irises, with two black eyebrows above them. Ratchet knew this man.

"Hey, you're that famous sports agent - Don Wonderstar!"

"You got that right, kid." the man said. "Listen, I gotta big problem. I'm supposed to take Skidd McMarx to the Blackwater City Hoverboard Competition on Rilgar, and this place is _crawling_ with Sandsharks! Skidd's gotta be near the ship - I just need someone to help clear out these Sandsharks so I can get to him. Think you can help me out?"

"No problem. Wait here, we'll take care of it."

"YOU TWO are true heroes. I mean that." he said. He gave Ratchet a purple flare. "Fire this flare when the Sandsharks are gone."

"Got it." Ratchet said. Fortunately, a conveniently placed teleporter brought Ratchet and Clank back to their ship. They hadn't been able to use it earlier because it wasn't finished yet, but apparently a Constructobot had just finished building it, for when Ratchet stepped off the teleporter, he noticed a Constructobot lying on the ground, unconscious. The teleporter suddenly activating right under it's nose must've scared the living daylights out of the Constructobot, the shock forcing it's processor to shut down and check for damage.

"Hm, I think we should check out that valley over there then." Ratchet said as he walked into the direction they hadn't went yet. After two minutes Ratchet noticed the man they were looking for standing on a rock nearby. "Ooh, man, am I happy you two dudes showed!" Skidd said. "I've been out here all night!"

"I can't believe it - Skidd McMarx!" Ratchet said, excited. "I have seen every one of your races! You pulled off a triple-nova spin at mach-two at last year's Kerwan cup!"

Skidd looked flattered. "It's always good to meet a fan, little dude." he said.

"I am Clank. This is Ratchet." Clank spoke up. "Your uncle received your infobot and asked us to assist you."

"Ooh, I was wondering if he got that." Skidd said. "My agent and I have been running from those Blarg all night. Only we ended up getting separated in the chaos, and I took a gnarly fall getting out of the Skidd McMarx Sports Shack. Hey! Think you dudes can clear out the Sandsharks so I can get to my ship?"

Skidd suddenly pulled out a hoverboard. Basically two circular metal pads that the hoverboarder stood on connected by a transparent, green class tube in which the fuel tank was visible. The engine ran on Hydrogen gas, a compressed tank leading the fuel into the combustion chambers in the two engines at the back, propelling the user forward. Two wings at the sides provided lift and stability. "I'll give you my hoverboard if you do." Skidd finished.

"Whoa, a real McMarx 4000?!" Ratchet said. "Consider it done."

Ratchet equipped the Pyrocitor and after Skidd had told him where his ship was located, Ratchet got to work. After jumping across another gap filled with quicksand, Sandsharks and Sandshark nests fell by the truckload. "Looks like there are still a few Sandsharks up there on the plateau, think you can take 'em out?" Skidd yelled.

Fortunately, two panels at the back of the plateau, which would become an elevator eventually, provided Ratchet with a place where he could get onto the plateau by jumping from wall to wall. As he took out the two Sandshark nests, Skidd yelled "Hey, are any of you dudes, like, hungry? 'Cause when this is over, I could go for some food. You know, like a cheeseburger, or a pizza. I think Qwark's Grub Grab still delivers this late."

Ratchet's stomach growled at the mention of food. "What was that?" Clank asked.

"Eh, that was me." Ratchet replied. "Actually, that was my stomach reminding me that I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning."

Then only one large group of Sandsharks remained, swarming the area in front of Skidd's ship, a huge rocket.

What Ratchet didn't know, however, is that he was being watched. Hiding behind a boulder in the shadow of a tree, a figure was watching Ratchet's every move. The figure grinned. "He's got talent." the figure mumbled as Ratchet took care of five Sandsharks with one swing of his wrench. The figure frowned, however, when it noticed a presence hiding in the sand below Ratchet's feet. The figure focused and pried into the Sandshark's primitive mind. Only one word was present: food. The Sandshark was planning to suddenly jump out of the sand, grab Ratchet's tail and drag him into the sand.

" _How about no?_ " the figure thought. The figure added two words to 'food', turning it into 'rock is food'. Immediately the Sandshark shot at a rock, chomped down on it and broke all his teeth. " _That should teach him._ " the figure thought.

Meanwhile Ratchet had cleared out all the Sandsharks. The figure watched as Ratchet received a hoverboard from Skidd before launching a flare, and a few minutes later another Rilgarian came running towards the ship. The figure watched as this second Rilgarian, which he knew to be Don Wonderstar, argued with Skidd, before showing Ratchet and Clank an infobot. Although the figure was sitting half a mile away, the figure focused on the infobot and saw what it showed.

It was a commercial of a hoverboard racing event held on planet Rilgar, and apparently the race was set to start in a matter of hours. Judging by how Ratchet's tail was behaving, the figure could tell that Ratchet was excited, likely he wanted to give the race a try.

"Rilgar it is then." the figure mumbled.

Meanwhile, Ratchet and Clank waved goodbye to Skidd as he and Don took off in their ship. "We've just saved a _celebrity_!" Ratchet said. "I wanna go check out that hoverboard race..."

"No." Clank said. "We must get to Aleero City."

Clank froze. "What's wrong?" Ratchet asked.

"I am detecting a strange signal. We should head back to the ship, I can strengthen the signal there."

When they were both sitting inside the ship, Clank scanned for the signal he picked up earlier. It was gone. Luckily, Clank had recorded the signal, so he started to decode it. He wanted to use the ship's communication equipment though as the signal was from another planet and thus was likely too scrambled to make out without proper equipment.

Clank's hypothesis was proven to be correct when he finished decoding the message, and only two words made it through safely. 'Amoeboid invasion'.

"Oh, no." Clank said, having found the source of the signal. "This signal was transmitted from planet Rilgar approximately two hours ago, directed at every neighboring planet, including this one. Blackwater city appears to be under attack from Amoeboids."

"We're going to Blackwater city then." Ratchet said, punching in the coordinates and flying off into deep space.

* * *

 **As you all can see I changed some stuff a little. For example Ratchet has to dive to obtain the Hydrodisplacer. This change is for two reasons: one, a gun lying on the floor in the middle of a room doesn't make sense at all, and two, it gives the water in the room another reason to be there aside from acting as an example for the Hydrodisplacer.  
**

 **Anyhow, I hope you all won't have to wait too long for the next chapter to arrive, chapter four, in which the duo explores Blackwater City.**


	4. Slimy Slumberparty

**Whoa, erm, hey, FanFiction, long time no see!**

 **Sorry, people, I haven't been writing much. Let's change that, shall we?**

 **Anyhow... goodness, it's been so long it feels like I've forgotten how to write author's notes. So, uh, what did I usually do? Oh, yes, review replies!**

 **Max Chronicle: " _Reconstructing quote time: "Rock is food. Not Ratchet."_**  
 _ **A surprise invasion of aliens, huh... I'm going to assume it went well because you're alive. And then you celebrated by playing Undertale. Cool.**_  
 _ **That was a fun read and I can't wait for Blackwater City. Again, as long as there are no Lombax-eating sharks, it'll be good.**_  
 _ **Until next time.**_  
 _ **Max out.**_  
 _ **P.S. Durn right, I enjoyed the Pokitaru vid. Best part was either leaving all the patrons with a disco or unloading the R.Y.N.O. on Al. Commentary equal genius.**_  
 ** _P.P.S. 9.8. Impressive._ "  
...yeaaah, I _totally_ didn't make it up or anything... (not about Undertale, LOVE that game! Or, well, not LOVE as in... well... let's say 'Flowey's definition'). Anyhow, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. Also, worry not, no sharks were fed during the makings of this chapter. However, since they're a crucial part of the level, I couldn't leave them out. They get what's coming to them, though.  
P.S. Thank you! I've actually teamed up with my good friend Agent-Daniel_46 to provide a hilarious video... that is still in the makings. Still, expect a new Smash Bros video soon in which he and I demonstrate how to play as the captain of disrespect, Captain Falcon. I also plan on making some Undertale video's, if you've played Undertale, you probably know what the player is up against at the ending of the neutral run, and yes, you bet I've got some comments ready on that... _thing_.  
P.P.S. Well, the outcome was never really in doubt (I already knew that I'd pass the exam), but a 9.8?! I still can hardly believe it myself.  
**

 **Jadzia Ezri Dax: " _I found this chapter interesting and enjoyable, and I'm glad you changed the Hydrodisplacer thing too. It made more sense the way you wrote it. You've got a lot of creativity, that's for sure. Anyway, can't wait for the next chapter._**  
 _ **P. S. As for my new OC for Zoniborn, here she is:**_

 _ **Name: Eliza Kiara**_  
 _ **Species: Lombax( although everyone in Skyrim thinks she's a mutant anthromorphic cat)**_  
 _ **Gender: Female**_  
 _ **Fur colour: dark reddish purple with dark purple stripes**_  
 _ **Hair: black hair put in a braid that goes down just below the shoulder blades**_  
 _ **Clothing: Brown long-sleeved top with metal shoulder pads, dark brown pants held up by a black belt and holds a sword in a case that is attached.**_  
 _ **Personality: caring, kind, courageous, nerdy about magic, easy to irritate though**_  
 _ **Other: left-handed, super-intelligent, hyper-aware**_  
 ** _History: You can make up her history if you want. I don't mind at all._ "  
Thank you! Yeah, finding a gadget like that floating in mid-air in a seemingly random room made very little sense to me, and the room you find the Hydrodisplacer is quite pointlessly filled with water, it only acts as a quick tutorial (okay, it also hides a - wait, that'd be spoiling!), so I decided to give the water a better role in the story there to fully utilize the level.  
P.S. Nice OC! It's actually what I had planned for Ratchet, everyone in Skyrim thinks that he's a deformed Khajiit. And I might actually write a history for her to better integrate her into the story, for example, why she's in Skyrim. Anyhow, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations, enjoy!**

 **rst64tlc: "** ** _Great Chapter. By the way, I remembered you saying about adding planets into the story in chapter 2? I think. There is a youtube video of planets that was cut-out of the ps4 ver. vs the ps2. Its called: PLANETS THAT WERE CUT FROM THE GAME! go check it out when you have the time and good luck._ "  
Thank you! And yes, I plan on drastically adding to the plot, adding two whole new planets. I checked out the video, though I was actually hoping for some info on the 'new' planets Insomniac promised, I was given a list of what the PS4 game lacks in length. While I know this out of the back of my head, having played every R&C game, it's still handy to have a list, so thanks! Add to that, I'm really glad you like the story so far, and I hope this next chapter lives up to your expectations.**

* * *

Since Rilgar was located in the same solar system as Aridia, the trip took but a few minutes. Ratchet landed Mr. Micron's ship on a landing pad on a small island just outside the city. "What a clever move, landing in an isolated area to prevent enemies from damaging the ship." Clank said.

"Uuh... yeah!" Ratchet said. He totally didn't land outside the city to avoid high parking fees.

As they climbed out of the ship, a person whose voice Ratchet recognized from the radio, spoke through a speaker system that was built into the city to inform citizens in case of an emergency, such as now. "Attention citizens! We appear to be dealing with a small outbreak of Amoeboids. Our teams are working hard to rid the city of these creatures, but first, they have to get up, brush their teeth, get over here, really it's a whole process. So until they arrive, the race is postponed."

Ratchet growled. "Let's take care of those Amoeboids, I have a new McMarx hoverboard I want to try out."

Clank sighed. "Exactly what I was afraid of."

Ratchet used his Swingshot to reach a coast guard building on a neighboring island, one that had been evacuated due to two Amoeboids being inside. As Ratchet opened the door to get rid of said creatures though, he instead found two robots standing around green slime that once was an Amoeboid. They turned around. "Rodent-type organism detected! Exterminate!" the two robots blared as they grabbed their weapons. Ratchet got out of the way just in time to avoid a spray of acid.

Clank frowned. "Ratchet, could you make them shoot at you one more time?"

Ratchet stepped out into the doorway and waved at the robots. He got out of the way of another toxic cloud, but this time, Clank analyzed the light coming through the cloud, determining it's chemical composition by analyzing it's spectrum.

"Ratchet, this gas contains large amounts of chlorine, methane and hydrogen ions. It is therefore very poisonous and acidic, but the methane is explosive."

"Got it." Ratchet said as he threw in a Fusion grenade. The resulting explosion was spectacular, and unsurprisingly, when Ratchet stepped through the doorway there was nothing left to spray poisonous gas at him.

Ratchet jumped across a few boats to reach the next island, which had another building on it, although this building as actually one end of a bridge connecting the docks to the main city.

The doors were made of glass, though, and Ratchet saw robots identical to the ones that tried to kill him earlier fighting a group of Amoeboids.

"Let's give them some time alone." Ratchet said as he waited outside. Sadly, it was raining, and after five minutes Ratchet shivered. "Think they're done yet?"

"Perhaps, we should take a look." Clank replied, unaffected by the rain. Thankfully he was waterproof.

Ratchet walked over to the door. The robots were fighting off the last Amoeboid. Ratchet was sick and tired of waiting, so he equipped the Pyrocitor. "Ratchet, remember that the gas tank those robots, that are called 'Extermibots' according to my databanks, are wearing is highly explosive."

"Right, I shouldn't use fire then." Ratchet said as he switched to his Fusion Grenade instead and threw a bomb at the group of enemies.

After they had been dealt with, Ratchet walked to the other side of the building and stepped onto a button on the floor, activating the bridge. On the other side however, was a group of Extermibots. Thankfully the Fusion Grenades were more than capable of taking care of them before they could even get close to Ratchet.

Ratchet walked to the other side of the bridge and waited for the elevator, that would bring them to street level, to come down to their position. When it did, however, it brought two Extermibots with it. Ratchet's eyes widened and he threw a bomb into the elevator. He could step aside just in time.

When the elevator reached street level again, Ratchet could see what a mess the Amoeboids were making. Extermibots were running left and right, fighting off a group of large Amoeboids in the middle of a short promenade running along the city's outskirts.

After both sides had been dealt with, Ratchet walked through a deep crimson building and used his swingshot to reach a lonely platform just outside the city, likely it was used as an anchoring point for larger ships. From there, Ratchet was able to reach a swingshot target hovering over a street in the distance. After landing on top of a bike shop, Ratchet wondered out loud why that last swingshot target was in such an unusual position.

Clank explained that swingshot targets could also be used as an anchoring point by some ships, and unfortunately, an Extermibot drop ship was about to demonstrate how. Ratchet couldn't prevent it from reaching it's destination, and soon Extermibots were teleported onto the roof. Ratchet had to make a run for it, jumping off the roof and landing painfully on his side. "Ouch, that hurt." Ratchet said as he got up.

"Ratchet, try to find a Gadgetron Vendor. They sell Nanotech along with ammunition."

Thankfully there was a Gadgetron Vendor nearby that supplied Ratchet with ammunition and medication. Ratchet reloaded his weapon just in time to give the extermibots that has been teleproted onto the roof of the bike shop a warm welcome as the robots dropped down from the roof.

"Why are those guys attacking us anyway?" Ratchet wondered out loud

Just as he had said that, the man that they had heard just after landing spoke again. "Attention residents of Blackwater City. In order to combat the outbreak, we've released a whole mass of Extermibots into the city. We've also deployed some automatic tanks, just to speed things along. However, the on-board A.I. doesn't let them distinguish between local residents and trespassers, so for now, it's probably best to remain indoors."

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Ratchet said. Clank hummed in thought. "Perhaps we can slip past the Extermibots by using the chaos to our advantage. There is an elevator up ahead that leads to an underground containment area, from which an elevator can bring us back to street level. Seasalt Avenue to be exact. The mechanic on Seasalt Avenue has an elevator in the back that should lead straight to the plaza where the race is being held, according to the city plan, this was made so that damaged hoverboards could easily be repaired."

"Awesome. Let's get going then."

After making a turn right, however, Ratchet came face-to-face with a tank. Ratchet quickly hid (or, tried to hide) behind a fire hydrant and watched as the tank took down a group of Amoeboids.

"How are we gonna get past _that_ thing?" Ratchet asked Clank. "Any ideas, pal?"

Clank searched the holo-net and was able to find the schematics for the tanks... after hacking into the city's defense system. But, this was an emergency.

"Ratchet, the tanks seem to have a weak spot, it has an unarmored underside. Detonating an explosive underneath it will suffice."

"Right, but how do we get it to drive over a _bomb_?"

Clank's eyes narrowed. "I think I have an idea."

* * *

"Hey! Over here! Hello!"

The tank turned to where the yelling was coming from. There was a small robot standing in the middle of the street, waving at the tank. Identifying it as a potential threat, the tank began to approach the robot at a menacingly slow pace. However, it was so fixated on the small robot that it failed to notice a Fusion Grenade coming from the left that landed just in front of the tank.

The explosion was spectacular, strong enough to destroy a power supplier, causing a local black out.

Now that the force field that had been blocking off the elevator had temporarily vanished, Ratchet used the lack of power to their advantage, grabbing Clank and running into the elevator just in time...

...and right into two Extermibots. Ratchet had to think fast and threw Clank at one of the robots. Thankfully Clank had seen them and used the momentum to deliver a forceful kick to the robot's face, buying Ratchet enough time to bring out his wrench and ruin the other robot's day.

After both robots had been dealt with, Clank attached himself to Ratchet's back again.

"Well, it could take a while for the power to come back online, is there some way I can force the elevator to go down?" Ratchet asked.

There was indeed a way, but it involved detaching the elevator itself from the machinery that allowed it to go up and down. But, having no choice, Ratchet reluctantly detached the elevator.

Gravity reclaimed ownership of the elevator immediately as it fell down to the ground. Ratchet would've broken his leg if he hadn't jumped at the right moment.

Walking out of the elevator, Ratchet was both fascinated and intimidated by the sheer size of the room he was in. He was in a cave of some sorts, underneath the city. "Are you sure this place is safe?" Ratchet asked.

"Absolutely." Clank said.

That wasn't entirely true. When Ratchet walked on, he realized that he was standing on the upper level. The lower level was a circular area in the middle of the room, where a bunch of Extermibots had just finished imprisoning several Amoeboids for research. However, they had also closed off the path leading to the elevator.

Luckily, Ratchet was able to deactivate the forcefields by using an override button located on the other side, and immediately it was chaos. The Extermibots were victorious, although the two that survived the sudden Amoeboid outbreak were quickly taken down with a surprise Fusion Grenade from above.

Moving on, Ratchet stepped into the elevator, and soon he found himself in Seasalt Avenue. What Clank had failed to find, however, is that the Avenue was currently being used as another containment area, the small street was completely blocked off by various containment areas.

Ratchet was able to disable a containment area using an override button on the floor, then deactivated the next containment area with another override button.

Sometimes he had to fight small groups of imprisoned Amoeboids, sometimes a few Extermibots that were teleported in to investigate who was disabling the forcefields.

But when Ratchet pressed the last override button, however, all hell broke loose.

Some sort of alarm went off, and suddenly, two tanks were teleported in, as well as an entire army of Extermibots.

Ratchet immediately began to throw Fusion Grenades like nobody's business, taking out most of the Extermibots, but he couldn't stop the tanks. Not this time.

But that's when the tides miraculously turned. The two tanks suddenly exploded, taking the Extermibots with them.

"All enemies clear. Well done!" Clank complimented. Ratchet decided not to tell Clank that he had no idea what had happened. As Ratchet walked into the deserted mechanic's building, however, he noticed a figure watching him from a nearby building out of the corner of his eye. When Ratchet turned to look, however, the figure was gone.

Ratchet pushed it to the back of his mind for now. He walked through the mechanic's workshop and took the elevator to the raceway plaza. As he stepped into the elevator though...

"Good news! It appears the city is now Amoeboid-free, and we have two citizens to thank: Ratchet and Clank!" various speakers yelled through the city. "The race is back on, so stay tuned for updates!"

Arriving at the raceway plaza, Ratchet noticed an long waiting line, apparently racers were signing up by the truckload now that the race was back on.

Ratchet's ears lowered, this was going to take ages. But then someone called his name. "Hey, it's Ratchet and Clank!"

It was a Rilgarian woman standing behind a table in the middle of the plaza, where racers could sign up for the race.

The woman introduced herself as Starlene, and told Ratchet that, if he wanted to enter the race, he didn't have to wait in line and would be guaranteed to race. All he needed was a hoverboard.

Ratchet grinned, and within minutes he was sitting in a waiting room along with the other racers that had been chosen. A timer above the door counted down the seconds until the race would start.

And when the timer finally reached zero, Ratchet followed the other racers out of the room. Stepping out into the rain and onto the racetrack, Ratchet could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body. His tail swayed excitedly as he activated his hoverboard and got on.

The race started soon enough, and all hoverboards went pedal to the metal, shooting off at an incredible speed. The track made a turn right right after the finish line, followed by the track splitting in two, a higher and a lower route. Ratchet took the higher route and flew through two booster rings. These blue rings provided his hoverboard with an extra-strong propellant that allowed for a temporary speed boost.

Ratchet used it a few seconds later to overtake two racers, making a turn right and taking the high route once again.

Shortly after, the track made a turn right, then right again, then left, followed by a massive ramp. Taking the chance, Ratchet used the ramp and flew through yet another booster ring. "Ratchet, I have been reading through the rules for tips, and did you know that you can perform stunts to earn boost charges?" Clank spoke up from Ratchet's back. Ratchet responded by performing a somersault. When he landed, he noticed that boost charge was being teleported into his hoverboard. "Awesome!" Ratchet said. "I suppose we're rewarded for being cool!"

"It appears so, though, please do not try anything _too_ crazy." Clank replied.

After making a U-turn to the right followed by a turn left, Ratchet crossed the finish line. One round down, two more to go.

* * *

It took Ratchet a lot of effort, but he managed to overtake the last racer in the last few seconds.

The crowd went crazy, and Ratchet was pulled onto a stage. He waved at the crowd for a few moments before the race was officially over, and people started to leave.

"Nice! You're the first Lombax to ever win a race!" Starlene said as she handed Rathet the prize money, two thousand bolts.

Afterwards, Ratchet stepped onto a taxi and instructed it to bring him and Clank back to their ship.

"We should head to planet Kerwan." Clank said.

Before Ratchet could reply though, the taxi started to play a message that was broadcasted to it from somewhere within the city.

"Hey, kid! You got some hoverboarding skills – I could use someone like you. Come see me and let's talk business. But I, uh, ain't sayin' where I am, but the _sewers_ under this here city? Yeah, they're pretty interesting, don't you think?"

Ratchet noticed a large sewer pipe sticking out of one of the buildings at the edge of the city, with a few swingshot targets leading to it. Despite Clank's protests that they should go to Aleero city, Ratchet made his way to the pipe. He took a maintenance elevator down into the sewers, deep below the city. "Hmm, what's down here?" Ratchet wondered out loud, failing to mask the disgust in his voice.

As the elevator stopped, Ratchet found himself on one side of a large, rectangular room. The room was divided in two basins, the one near Ratchet being filled while the one on the far side of the room was empty.

Ratchet considered dropping down into the water and swimming across at first, but then he noticed a shark fin sticking out of the water. Ratchet noticed a hydrodisplacer connector nearby though, and was able to drain the pool.

After introducing the now immobilized Sharkagator to his OmniWrench, Ratchet climbed out of the basin and, after taking out another Sharkagator that was inhabiting the other basin, Ratchet filled this second basin, enabling him to reach a sewer tunnel.

He dropped down into the cold water and swam across before pulling himself up and into the pipe. The pipe lead to a small platform. Ratchet noticed a submerged tunnel to his right as well as a Sharkagator swimming around.

After draining the basin and getting rid of the Sharkagator, Ratchet inspected the tunnel. He blew up a few fences blocking his way before coming out on the other side. Ratchet noticed no other exits save for another floor above him. Realizing what he had to do, he walked back through the tunnel, climbed up to the Hydrodisplacer connector by using a ladder and refilled the basin.

Ratchet took a deep breath and swam through the tunnel. He gasped for air as he breached the water's surface on the other side of the tunnel before climbing out of the water.

Hearing an angry yelp to his right, Ratchet turned around to see an Amoeboid.

After getting rid of the creature, Ratchet realized the only way forward was a steep tunnel leading down to who knows where.

But, having no other options if he wanted to proceed, Ratchet carefully stepped into the tunnel, only to realize his mistake as he slid down the tunnel instead.

Ratchet found himself in a small, circular room with a button on the floor. The tunnel up ahead was blocked by a steel fence, and after some failed attempts, Ratchet realized that it was impossible to climb back up.

Out of curiosity, Ratchet pressed the button, hoping that it would remove the fence that was blocking his way.

It did remove the fence, but...

"Sewer pumps activated." a robotic, female voice spoke as a concerning amount of water was being pumped into the room. "Oh, boy." Ratchet said.

"I believe we should run now!" Clank said. Wasting no more seconds, Ratchet ran off into the tunnel, hoping to find a way out before the whole tunnel would be flooded.

Making a turn right, Ratchet ran up the stairs to a higher tunnel. He noticed the few Amoeboids moving around, but he ran past them, having no time to waste as the water was rising and fast.

Ratchet turned right once more and ran up a ramp before realizing in shock horror that the tunnel up ahead was flooded. Ratchet dropped down into the water and swam through the tunnel, praying that it wasn't too long.

He was lucky, after ten seconds he was already climbing out of the water, using a ladder, although the water was catching up to him.

Ratchet ran as fast as he could, through a large, circular room, jumping across platforms as he huge room was flooded below him.

Ratchet noticed that the tunnel up ahead was flooded, and ran as fast as he could. He took a deep breath and dove down into the dark.

The tunnel was long, far too long. Ratchet began to panic as his lungs kept reminding him of their need for fresh air. And still, the tunnel showed no signs of ending anytime soon.

However, after making a turn right, Ratchet realized in shock horror that the tunnel up ahead was blocked. Instead, he had to swim up. He could see the air he needed far above him, and he swam up as fast as he possibly could.

But it wasn't enough. The burning in Ratchet's lungs slowly turned into a hellish inferno, and suddenly, when he was but a few meters from the surface, a large cloud of bubbles escaped his mouth as he began to inhale water.

Ratchet clawed at his throat and his legs kicked around wildly, but he only sank deeper and deeper, and further away from the air.

Clank realized what was going on and began to paddle with his arms and legs, but Clank wasn't strong enough to carry Ratchet. In fact, he was too heavy to be able to swim, let alone while carrying a Lombax.

Meanwhile, Ratchet was dying. His consciousness slipped away as he clawed at the air far above him. It was almost as if it was taunting him.

The last thing Ratchet saw before he lost consciousness was a white-colored object coming into view and diving into the water, shooting at him with an incredible speed.

* * *

 **Alright, fans of the Epilogue series probably have an idea of what's going to happen next. Still, will everyone's favorite Lombax survive? Or will Clank have to team up with someone else for the rest of the story? Find out in chapter 5!  
**

 **Also, I'm going to make an announcement. I've played Undertale for quite a while, and I like the game so much that I'm actually going to write a fic about it, starring one of my OC's, so if you're interested, keep an eye on the Undertale archive! Or, well, just keep reading my stories, I'll let you all know in the author's notes when I've started writing it.**

 **Another thing I want to let all the fans of the Epilogue series know is that it's back in action! You see, surprise surprise, I'm actually writing to you from Switzerland rather than the Netherlands! As I'm on a vacation/holiday (the correct word depends on where you live) I've decided to give our heroes some time off as well, so expect a story in which they're having fun after the ending of Epilogue 2.  
**


	5. Past, Present and Future

**Alright, after last chapter's cliffhanger, I couldn't let you all wait for long, right? So here's chapter 5! (Dang, I'm uploding chapters faster than I used to, huh?)**

 **Anyhow, reviews!**

 **rst64tlc: "** ** _Its the stranger from chapter one and three! But anyways great chiff hanger and chapter._**

 ** _Also I just thought of an crazy idea. How about in the end instead of destroying the DePlanetizer, they remake it into a Replanetizer or something like that, it could create a new planet (Watch Titan A.E. for an idea on how it works.) Because lets face it, we see a lot of planet destroying and less creating so...you like the idea but hey, it your call._ "  
Thanks! As for the stranger, you'll see if you're correct with that assumption soon enough. As for the 'replatetizer', I already have this whole story planend out, and I don't see any more changes to the plot happening anytime soon. Just trust me when I say that I've got an epic finale planned. Anyhow, I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. Enjoy!**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _While I am afraid of Pool Sharks, (Now called Sharkagators) I do like watching their fins get kicked around. Cool to hear that Epilogue is back for another one-shot. Am looking forward to that. And that really cool Captain Falcon vid. FALCON PUNCH! (Shatters computer screen) "Crap."_**

 _ **But I have not played Undertale, though I've heard a lot about it.**_

 _ **And finally, '...was a white-colored object coming into view and diving into the water, shooting at him with an incredible speed.'**_  
 _ **I will now attempt to guess the speed at which this figure shot at Ratchet.**_  
 _ **Was it more than 150 light-years a second?**_  
 _ **(crickets)**_  
 _ **(more crickets)**_  
 _ **(even more crickets)**_  
 _ **"Seriously, how are there even this many crickets?"**_  
 _ **(crickets)**_  
 _ **AHHHHHHHHHH!**_  
 _ **Max out.**_  
 _ **P.S. Now I'm off to Florana, there are sharks out there without knowing what it feels like to have sudden death dealt to them. (Pulls out several 'Inferno Mode' crates.) MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!**_ **"  
Well, I'd rather have crickets, were I'm staying right now I've got earwigs instead, which are, if you ask me, some of the ugliest creatures ever to exist. I wonder if Insomniac took them as inspiration when designing the Cragmites. Anyhow, I'm planning on uploading that Captain Falcon vid soon enough. I'll say one thing though, AD64 and I start it with style, with saying 'Show me your moves!' at the exact same time. Also, why inferno mode crates? Last time I checked that didn't made Ratchet invincible to level hazards like Sharkagators. Instead, try giving the water a _little_ shock... (and by that I mean keep firing lightning until all Sharkagators are fried). Anyhow, when you're done killing Sharkagators on Florana, I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter of True Heroes.**

* * *

There was only darkness, and Ratchet could faintly feel the cold water biting at his skin. It was the only thing telling him that he wasn't yet dead, but he knew that it wouldn't take long.

But then he could faintly feel something cold press against his muzzle, and suddenly, there was a spark of pain coming from his lungs. Not as if they weren't hurting already...

But then, a surge of electricity went through Ratchet's body as there was fresh air being pumped into his lungs. His eyes shot open immediately, and he noticed some sort of mouthpiece pressed against his muzzle.

The mouthpiece was connected to a study, white metal hose, but Ratchet couldn't see where it went, his vision was too blurry.

However, Ratchet grabbed the hose and pressed the mouthpiece against his muzzle with all of his power as his lungs greedily sucked in air.

Ratchet noticed a white blob moving around in his vision, and slowly he could make out a hand. The hand turned into an arm, one that wrapped itself around Ratchet and began to pull him to the surface.

A pair of white hands pulled Ratchet out of the water, and before Ratchet even knew what was going on, he was being embraced by a white figure.

Suddenly, he felt warm, as if the figure was radiating heat. The figure patted Ratchet on the back as Ratchet began to cry, crying away all of the stress of his near-death encounter. The figure kept hugging and warming the Lombax until Ratchet had fallen asleep due to fatigue. Clank wasn't awake either, when Ratchet had hit the bottom of the tunnel a few minutes earlier, Clank had been smacked against the ground and knocked unconscious.

The figure picked up Ratchet whilst still radiating an aura of heat and flew through the tunnels, to an elevator that brought him back to street level.

Stepping out of the elevator, the figure found himself in a back street. A ship was parked up ahead, and a Rilgarian man was standing next to it. The man had green skin and eight spikes on the back of his head, two on each side of his head and four running back in a straight line, decreasing in size the further they got from the man's forehead. The man's eyes were hidden behind a pair of glowing, orange goggles and had a broken nose, judging by the plaster taped over it.

The man was wearing blue jeans and black sneakers, and a short-sleeved leather jacket over a purple shirt that had a weird symbol on it that resembled some sort of explosion.

Reading the person's mind, the figure found out that the man's name was Slim Cognito. He wanted to speak with Ratchet to make a deal with him: he would give Ratchet the trespasser, a hacking device, if Ratchet would bring him a set of nine holocards. These holocards were different, however, as they didn't show a location, or person, or anything. Instead, they had blueprints printed onto them that, when combined, would form the blueprints of the legendary RYNO.

Short for 'Rip Ya a New One', the RYNO was a weapon so powerful that the people over at Gadgetron that came up with the idea were so scared of their own creation that they destroyed the weapon, split up the blueprints and printed them on nine holocards, then hid them all across the galaxy. The symbol on Slim's shirt was the emblem of the RYNO.

Noticing the Lombax in the figure's arms, Slim Cognito frowned. "What did ya do to him?!"

The figure completely ignored him and walked down the short street, up to a forcefield. "Hey, you aren't getting past that forcefield unless you hack it with a trespasser!" Slim yelled after him. "You know, I could give you one, that is, if you'd-"

The figure in white walked up to the forcefield. He let go of Ratchet, but for some weird reason Ratchet didn't fall to the ground, but instead kept floating in mid-air.

The figure spread his arms and two orbs of cyan, pure energy formed in his hands. He clapped his hands together, resulting in a beam of pure energy that blasted through the forcefield like a hot knife through butter.

Picking up Ratchet again, the figure kept walking up to the edge of the city, where they jumped down to the Sharkagator-infested ocean below.

However, instead of falling, he seemed to defy gravity as he turned left and entered the city again.

He landed in front of the best hotel Blackwater City had to offer, and walked in. There was a Novalian woman standing behind the reception, who gave him a weird look. "A room for one, please." The figure said.

The Novalian woman stared at the figure, then at Ratchet, then at Clank. "They... erm... they smell."

"Yeah, why else do you think I'd like to rent a room with a shower?"

"Uuh... why are those two unconscious?"

The figure shook their head with a sigh and began to walk up the stairs, having hacked into the hotel's systems in a matter of seconds and having rented a room on the seventh floor. Of course, he did pay, he was no thief. But Ratchet and Clank needed to rest, and he was tired of all the holdup.

Reaching the seventh floor, he merely walked up to the door of the room he had 'hired'. Normally visitors would have to show a pass with a specific electromagnetic signature, but the figure just began to radiate the exact signature required to open the door.

After closing the door behind him with his right foot, he took a moment to take in his surroundings.

The floor was covered with a soft, purple carpet and the walls were the same tint of purple with gold here and there.

The figure found himself in the living room, judging by the expensive-looking couch up ahead and the large window that provided an excellent view of the city. There was a bedroom to the left with a huge, soft bed, and the bathroom was through a door to the right.

The figure walked into the bedroom and lay Ratchet down on the bed. He removed Clank from Ratchet's back and placed the robot on the ground. After carefully tucking Ratchet in, the figure picked up Clank and walked back into the living room. Turning his left index finger into a screwdriver, the figure checked Clank's hardware. Apparently the impact had damaged the motherboard, but nothing a dose of Nanotech couldn't fix. After giving the robot some Nanotech and replacing a broken right eye, he placed the unconscious robot on the nightstand to the right of the bed Ratchet was in.

The figure turned around before leaving the room. "Pleasant dreams, kiddo." he said to Ratchet before he exited the bedroom. He down on the couch, and stopped moving. He sat there, motionless and waiting for the sun to rise again.

* * *

Ratchet yawned as he woke up the next morning. After stretching his tired muscles, he realized that he had no idea where he was.

It was at that moment that the door opened up and a figure in white came in. After some good sleep, Ratchet could finally see the person better. It was the exact same person that he had seen at the Ranger tryouts, the person that had stood up for him.

"Who... who are you?" was all Ratchet could say.

The man in white sighed and grabbed a chair. He pulled it over to the bed, and sat down.

"You must have many questions about me. But you must know that some questions are best left unanswered. I will tell you the truth and the truth only, but I cannot tell you everything. Are you okay with that?"

"It's better than nothing." Ratchet replied.

The figure nodded. "Very well then. My name, is Hypernova, named after the most powerful explosion a star can produce. And I must say, when I saw you on Veldin, it was as if I was staring at a ghost. I saw that you were staring at me as well?"

"Yes, because I had no idea who you were, or why you were there. But why did you think that you were staring at a ghost?"

Hypernova laughed. "Because you look just like your father."

"I... what?! You knew my father?!"

"I didn't just _know_ him, he and I were practically family."

"Tell me everything!"

Hypernova stayed silent for a moment. "I cannot."

"What?!"

"I said that I cannot tell you everything."

"But he's my father! I deserve to know!" Ratchet yelled. "I deserve to know... at least something about him." he whispered afterwards.

While Ratchet couldn't see Hypernova's face, he could feel that he was surprised. "You never knew your parents?"

"No." Ratchet said, ears lowering. Hypernova stayed silent for a moment, then spoke.

"Kaden and I were good friends, we even went to school together. But... just after you were born..."

"Then what happened?"

"I cannot say. I can tell you about Kaden though. He looked a lot like you. Well, maybe a bit taller, and he had two stripes on his cheeks. He had a mischievous glistering in his eyes that told you he was a prankster, but he was serious when he needed to be. He was also careful that his jokes wouldn't harm anyone else in any way. 'The point of a joke', he always said, 'is that everyone can laugh about it, including the person that got pranked or that the joke is about. Otherwise, it's not truly a joke, but rather malicious pleasure'. Yeah, Kaden was a wise guy, yet at the same time, he was gentle and caring to your mother."

'You knew her too?"

"Yes, but that's a story for another day, we should get going. Aleero city, remember?"

"How do you know?"

"I've been... keeping an eye on you ever since I saw you on Veldin. I may have lost Kaden, and I thought that I had lost you too, but when I saw you, I swore to the universe that I'd protect you until my last stand. Now, go take a shower, you smell like sewer. Still, you were pretty lucky that that button you pressed started the pumps that then began to pump in seawater, otherwise you'd have nearly drowned in-"

"Yes, yes, I get it." Ratchet said as he got out of bed and left the room.

But then Clank opened one eye. "Why can you not tell Ratchet about his race? If this is some sort of game, it is very cruel."

"There's a reason why Lombaxes are rare, Clank. And if I'd tell Ratchet why, he'll dive into trouble head-first and end up on someone's wall. Do you understand?"

Clank stayed silent for a moment, then nodded. For Ratchet's safety, he wouldn't press the matter.

When Ratchet came out of the bathroom again, wearing his usual pilot's suit and ready to go, they left the hotel room and walked down to the first floor. However, instead of leaving the building, they walked into the hotel's restaurant, despite Clank's protests. Ratchet, however, was starving, he hadn't eaten since breakfast the day before.

Perhaps that was why Hypernova didn't even raise an eyebrow when Ratchet ordered quite a lot of food. Clank, however, was confused. "Do Lombaxes need that much food to survive?"

"Only if they haven't eaten in twenty-four hours." Ratchet replied while chewing on a cheese-bacon sandwich. "Don't you need anything?" Ratchet asked Hypernova. The man in white chuckled. "No, I'm good. Thanks anyway, Ratchet."

In fact, Hypernova had been silently debating about something for hours now, and he had finally made a decision. "Ratchet?"

"Yeah?"

"There's... there's something I haven't told you yet. Kaden and I... we were such close friends, that... when you were born..."

Hypernova sighed. "I'll just get to the point. I'm your godfather, Ratchet."

Ratchet nearly choked on his sandwich. Hypernova patted him on the back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks." Ratchet said, still coughing a little. "I just... up until now I considered Grimroth as my adoptive father, while I assumed myself to have no relatives. In fact... it is almost as if I'm the last Lombax left." Ratchet said, sadness clearly present on his face and in his voice.

When Ratchet was done eating, Hypernova checked the time. "We should get going if we want to get to Aleero City in time."

"Got it." Ratchet said as he helped Clank climbed onto his back. Hypernova insisted on paying for the food rather than Ratchet, and a short transaction later the three heroes were on their way. As they walked out the door, however, Ratchet noticed that it was still raining. "Really? Why did I even bother taking a shower, I could've just taken some soap with me, by the time we get to my ship I'll be soaked!"

"Who said anything about walking?" Hypernova said. Suddenly, a cyan-colored bubble of energy formed around them. Because the bubble was slippery, Ratchet fell and landed rather uncomfortably on his rear, while Hypernova flew to Ratchet's ship, which was still where Ratchet had left it the day earlier.

From above and now that he wasn't on such a tight schedule, Ratchet could finally take in the city. Blackwater city had a futuristic design with sleek, tall buildings and an overuse of neon, while combining non-futuristic elements such as a park, or walkways made of stone tiles rather than metal, with futuristic elements such as the use of various metals and neon. It was an unusual sight, though not at all ugly.

When they reached the ship, Ratchet and Clank climbed in, but Hypernova stayed outside. "You coming?" Ratchet asked. Hypernova laughed. "I don't need a ship, Ratchet. You lead the way, I'll cover you."

Ratchet shrugged and started the ship. He closed the cockpit and began to fly up, through the dense, dark rainclouds and out of Rilgar's atmosphere. Meanwhile Hypernova was flying after him, seemingly unaffected by gravity. "Hey, Ratchet?" he sent through said Lombax through the radio.

"Whatever happens on Kerwan, for what it's worth, I voted for you to be the next Galactic Ranger. That's because you do have what it takes, heck, I dare say that you're stronger than all of the rangers combined! Anyhow, brace yourself, we're not going to make it in time unless we speed things up a little. Therefore, shut down your ship's engines. I know that sounds weird considering we have to go faster, but trust me."

A few moments later the engines of Ratchet's ship shut down. "Thanks, Ratchet. Hang on."

Hypernova focused and summoned all of his power. He began to tear a hole in reality itself, and after creating another hole near Kerwan and linking the two, the wormhole was done. Suddenly, a green vortex opened up in front of Ratchet's ship that swallowed the ship whole before Ratchet could even react. The wormhole closed after Ratchet, but that was no problem. Hypernova took a deep breath and shut down all unnecessary systems as he began to absorb every kind of energy.

Gaining more energy, he flew closer to a star until he was literally hanging mere yards from the swirly, hot surface. The temperature of 9000 degrees Kelvin supercharged him. He focused all of that energy on the boosters embedded in his shoes, and off he went, shooting at Kerwan at a speed that would make light green with envy. Arriving at Kerwan, he saw Ratchet's ship entering the stratosphere. He flew after Ratchet, to the hall of heroes.

Meanwhile, Clank realized something. "Ratchet, why did you not just call the rangers to inform them of the invasion?"

"Yeah, like they know who I am." Ratchet replied, sarcastically.

"But I thought you said the Rangers were your friends?"

Ratchet's eyes widened. "Whaaaaat? I think you're quoting me out of context here." he replied, but Clank didn't buy it. He stood up and pressed a button on his chest, and a recording of a familiar voice began to play.

"The rangers are actually my, uh... friends!" a recorded Ratchet said while Clank was staring at the real one with an emotionless expression.

"Do you record _everything_ I say?" Ratchet replied, slightly angered. "Do you record _everything_ I say?" Clank's recorder replied. Clank smiled, but then they realized that they had reached the ground. They held onto each other for dear life as they smashed through a billboard advertising Captain Qwark's cereal brand ("Qwarky-O's! Get healthy by eating me every day!") and were sent plummeting towards another rooftop far below.

"Hang on, I can fix this!" Ratchet said as he began to press several buttons, putting the thrusters on overdrive and rotating them 180 degrees, so that they were pointing at the ground.

The ship barely managed to stop in time, coming to a halt mere inches away from the terrified face of a Tharpod child (who was a huge Qwark fan, judging by the fact that he had painted a pair of old leather gloves, his sneakers, his pants and his shirt green, as well as a helmet. He even tried to paint himself green, judging by the splotches of green paint on his forehead).

Ratchet reorientated the ship so that it was horizontal again, before turning the thrusters around again and blasting off.

The Tharpod child watched them fly off. After a few seconds, he yelled "THAT WAS AAAAWESOOOME!"

Ratchet sped through the city, barely dodging buildings and traffic as he made his way to the Hall of Heroes as fast as possible. A few drivers angrily yelled after him, and Ratchet could vaguely hear "YOU MANIAC!"

"You'll thank me later." he growled. "Clank, how far is it?"

"At this rate, we will arrive in mere seconds." Clank said, who was holding on to his seat for dear life. "But I am uncertain if we will arrive in one piece."

And there it was, at last, the Hall of Heroes. Ratchet had seen it numerous times on Holovision or on posters, he never could have imagined seeing it in real life. He had dreamed about it though, more often times than not, marching through the hallways as a famous Galactic Ranger.

But then something caught their attention. A huge, deep crimson colored vessel made their way through the city, towards the hall of heroes. It smashed anything and everything in it's way. As it reached the hall of heroes, it released a whole swarm of drop ships.

"We're too late – the invasion has started!" Ratchet said. "Scan the emergency channels. We need to find out what's happening on the ground!"

Clank began to mess with the radio, and he soon found what they had been looking for. A voice that Ratchet recognized as Elaris, one of the rangers, was sending a distress signal across the city.

"Attention all units! The Hall of Heroes is under attack! Repeat, enemy ships are now in the central district of Aleero city! Galactic Rangers are under heavy fire at the Hall of Heroes, and there's a Blarg transport closing in fast! Brace for Warbot reinforcements, Rangers! All civilians, evacuate the area!"

"We must assist the Galactic Rangers." Clank said. "Activating weapons systems."

Clank began to mess with a few settings and soon enough a bleep told them that Clank's work had been successful. "Weapons online. You may now attack the transport."

Ratchet wasted no time in bringing down a Blargian drop ship heading for the Hall of Heroes.

"Captain, we have an unidentified ship providing assistance!" They could hear Elaris say through the radio. "Transport down!" She said with a hint of disbelief and respect in her voice. "Whoever you are – thank you."

"More transports!" a voice that Ratchet immediately recognized as Cora yelled.

"Those transports are dropping off Warbots all over the city!" Elaris said, praying that the unidentified ship's pilot would hear her.

"Not on my watch." Ratchet said. The nearest transport was immediately introduced to a barrage of plasma bullets that sent it spiraling into the depths below. Ratchet immediately searched for and found the next transport, who was dropping off Warbots near the Grav-Train station. The transport soon followed in it's comrade's footsteps as it was destroyed moments later. The Warbots noticed what was going on though, and Ratchet barely managed to dodge the plasma bullets they sent his way.

"He took out another ship!" Elaris said.

"Whoever is doing heroic things up there," Captain Qwark began and Ratchet was already expecting a thanks. He smiled, Captain Qwark was going to compliment him!

"This is _our_ turf!" Qwark finished.

"No offense, Captain, but we kinda need the help right now." Cora replied.

After hunting down the last three transports, Elaris sent them another message. "Thanks, guys – looks like you got all the transports. But we still need to take out that warship circling the Hall of Heroes."

Clank began to dig through his databanks. Being a defective Warbot, he, too, was provided crucial information about the invasion. Including information about the Warbots, as well as the warship.

"Hmm... the Warbot's armor is made of a Raritanium Alloy. If we could propel a Warbot at the ship with sufficient velocity, I believe it would penetrate the hull."

"Awesome! Eh... how do we do that?" Ratchet replied.

"Your weapon package includes a Mag Booster. I am rewriting the software to isolate the Warbots' armor, but I need time." Clank replied.

"Alright." Ratchet said as he went after the various Blargian 'saucers' swarming the area. "Hey, where did Hypernova go? Wasn't he right behind us?"

Little did Ratchet know, that Hypernova was watching them from afar. He was clinging on a wall of a skyscraper and used his expert vision to track the blue ship that brought down ship after ship. "Sorry, Ratchet, but this is _your_ fight." he mumbled. He noticed a Blargian saucer attempting to flank Ratchet and Clank. Hypernova raised his hand and fired a blast of energy, precisely calculating where the Blarg would be, and hitting it from a good few miles away. "But that doesn't mean I won't help here and there." he said as he jumped off the wall and landed on a walkway below. He charged through the city, engaging the enemy on the ground while Ratchet and Clank took the skies and the spotlights, exactly as he had hoped they would.

Meanwhile, Clank was finished with his rewrite. "Ah, there. You should now be able to pick up Warbots using the Mag Booster."

"Okay - let's try this out." Ratchet said as he charged at the Hall of Heroes, diving to the square in front of the building and activating the Mag Booster. He grinned as he saw Cora, Brax and Qwark stare up at him in surprise as the blue ship shot past and took half of the small army they had been fighting with it, up into the sky. Ratchet shot at the warship and, once he was close enough, he launched the Warbots. It left a big hole in the warship, but it was still flying.

"Holy cow – that was awesome!" Elaris cried out.

"Whatever you're doing, it's working!" Brax yelled over the sounds of gunfire.

"Impressive." Qwark said. "But my perseverance will defeat these Warbots... eh... eventually."

Hypernova saw it happen, and saw an opportunity. He had been fighting an entire army of Warbots, so he had to get rid of those first. He slammed his fists into the ground, generating a massive shock-wave that knocked the Warbots off their feet, buying him time to charge up two orbs of cyan energy in his hands. He slammed them into the ground, triggering a massive explosion that destroyed the bridge he had been fighting on, sending the countless Warbots falling into the cloudy abyss below.

Hypernova turned invisible and shot at the warship. He cloaked himself in cyan energy as he blasted through the warship's fuel tanks, causing the whole ship to go up in flames.

As the warship exploded spectacularly, civilians slowly got out of their houses. Seeing the massive fireball in the sky, they cheered for their rescuer, the pilots of the blue ship, that was currently landing in front of the Hall of Heroes.

The roof of the ship popped open and Ratchet and Clank stood up. Ratchet shyly scratched himself behind his ear at the sheer amount of attention he was getting. He could even see reporters Darla Gratch and Dallas Wannamaker standing in the crowd.

Little did he know that on a faraway planet called Veldin, Grimroth had been eating his breakfast while watching the news. He had already frowned when he recognized the ship, but when he saw Ratchet, he dropped the spoon full of cereal. The spoon landed in his breakfast (Qwarky-Os! Get healthy by-okay, I'll quit it) with a splash as Grimroth could only stare at the screen with eyes the size of dinner plates and with a dropped jaw.

Suddenly, Captain Qwark popped up in front of them. "All right, everyone, let's give these heroes some breathing room. I'm happy to field all questions on their behalf." Qwark said. Meanwhile, Hypernova had been flying to the Hall of Heroes. He stopped when he heard what Qwark said. " _That son of a-_ "

"Dallas Wannamaker here." said news reporter replied. "Does this mean you'll be asking these two heroes to join the Galactic Rangers?"

Qwark's big grin faded immediately. "Say what now?"

Hypernova grinned. " _And that's what you get._ "

Qwark turned around to see who he 'was going to ask to join the Galactic Rangers'. Recognizing Ratchet as the Lombax he had rejected during the tryouts, he gasped. Ratchet nervously waved at him while Clank just stared at him with a questioning expression.

Realizing how embarrassing this was going to be either way, Qwark chose looking like a fool in front of the team and the Lombax over looking like an idiot to the entire city by rejecting the person who had just saved said city.

"Well, I don't... see why not?"

Ratchet could barely believe his ears, but judging by the approving roar coming from the massive crowd, his dream had finally come true.

The crowd gasped though as someone else was landing next to the ship. "Congratulations, Ratchet. I always knew you could do it."

"You?!" Qwark cried out.

"Yes, me." Hypernova calmly replied. "But let's save greetings for later, this moment belongs to Ratchet and Clank. Folks, let's give them one last hooray, and say thanks to the duo who saved Aleero City today!"

* * *

After about fifteen minutes Galactic Ranger robots began to guide the crowd away from the Hall of Heroes while Ratchet and Clank were being interviewed by Darla Gratch as they stood next to their ship, which had been relocated to a landing pad just outside the Hall of Heroes.

However, as they were all so focused on Ratchet and Clank, everyone failed to notice a Blarg sneaking behind Ratchet and Clank's ship and planting a bomb on the underside of the ship.

Not even the cameraman Darla had with her noticed it, although his camera managed to capture it.

"Wait, what is-" Grimroth said as he narrowed his eyes and walked closer to his holovision. His eyes widened, and he gasped. "It's a bomb! Ratchet, please, in Zoni's name get out of there!"

But nobody noticed it, nor did anyone hear Grimroth's desperate screams.

It was then that, as if by some miracle, Ratchet turned around to face Clank, and as the little robot walked forward, he noticed the metal device sticked to the underside of his ship. "Wait, I didn't add..."

When he realized what it was, he instinctively grabbed Clank and dove off the platform just in time as the bomb detonated. However, Ratchet didn't have the time to plan this properly. They were still in one piece, but now they were falling into a seemingly endless, cloudy abyss.

And on another planet, as the ship exploded, Grimroth fainted.


	6. Trains, Bombs and Upgrades

**Ooh man, it's been a while since you all heard from me, huh?**

 **To be honest, it's been so long that I wonder if most of you are still here. I do hope so though. Anyhow, I have not stopped writing, and thus the two next chapters are ready to go. And let's also say that, soon enough, you will see some significant changes to the storyline.**

 **Anyhow, reviews!**

 **rst64tlc: " _Azimuth!...wait no it can't be. even he doesn't have this kind of power...unless one of three things:_**

 _ **A.)this reboot ver. of him is that powerful because he has quantum powers.**_

 _ **B.)This is the same Azimuth from Crack in Time as when he 'died' his soul was sent to the rebooted ver. AU of R &C in the body of that universe's Azimuth but with leftover quantum powers from the cloak's near destruction and he's been using them to help that universe before the Re: R&C makes an appearance or do their role. (I maybe over-thinking this.)**_

 _ **C.) This is an OC character of your's or someone else's design.**_

 ** _Great chapter and Surpise me. with the story. Also did you watch the R &C movie? is coming out on the 20th._"  
I'd love to answer with A, B or C, but that'd spoil some stuff, wouldn't it? You'll find out all of the answers as the story progresses, trust me.  
Also, of course I went to see the R&C movie! I watched and bought the movie, played the R&C game at least a dozen times on hard mode only, it still amazes me how much the R&C games have improved over the years. Anyhow, sorry for the long wait, I hope you're still here. If so, please enjoy this way overdue next chapter!  
**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _KNEW IT!  
Reconstructing quote time: "Ratchet... I am your godfather."  
(Also to correct my last reconstructed quote which was done incorrectly. It should be read as: "Ratchet is friend. Not food.")  
But woot to the heroes that saved the day at the Hall Of Heroes. IN YOUR FACE QWARK! (Fist bumps Hypernova)  
Max out  
P.S. It's not a matter whether or not the Inferno Crate makes Ratchet immune to the sharks... it's whether or not they make ME immune. And that would be a no. :(  
But I did incinerate them from the inside... then proceeded to have reality smack me in the face, forcing me to recuperate at the nearest hospital, as I keep having fear attacks from walking on solid ground. Luckily they have holo-fi, so I can enjoy this chapter of True Heroes.  
(Crickets)  
Yeppers, I've got issues._"  
He didn't say that Ratchet was a friend of the Sandsharks, simply so that Ratchet could destroy them without regrets should he ever come across them again. It's true he isn't food though. *Glares daggers at Sharkagator*  
P.S. Just you wait for the Pokitaru chapter. I wasn't happy to see that the invisible wall had been replaced with Sharks, it may be somewhat more realistic than good old invisible barriers, but at least barriers aren't ruining the limitless exploration that the original Pokitaru offered. And trust me, you'll see that unhappyness of mine about Sharks on Pokitaru appear in the storyline. Anyhow, sorry for the long wait, it's been a long time since I've uploaded anything, huh? If you're still here, then please forgive me for the wait, and I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter!**

 **zero fullbuster: "** ** _love it  
please write more.  
wow._"  
Will do, thank you so much! And please enjoy!**

* * *

Ratchet and Clank plummeted into the abyss with a loud scream, until a train suddenly shot past below them, They slammed into the vehicle, and were sent flying, ultimately slamming into a platform half a mile from the Hall of Heroes.

Clank shook his head and got up. He turned around, searching for Ratchet. He ultimately found the Lombax lying in the dirt nearby. A quick scan revealed that Clank himself had several broken servos, as well as a damaged processor and GPU, which was why he was feeling dizzy and had trouble focusing. Ratchet was in a worse condition however, having several broken bones as well as a shattered rib. He also had a frightening crack in his skull from the collision with the train.

Clank opened a compartment in his chest and took out a vial of Nanotech. He had taken an extra vial of Nanotech in case he'd get hurt somehow, but considering the circumstances, it was better to give it to Ratchet.

Clank opened the vial and poured the Nanotech over Ratchet's head.

Ratchet began to cough as he suddenly felt cold, with some sort of electrical surge running through his body. However, as the cold began to fade away, so did most of the pain.

Ratchet slowly got up. "Ratchet? How you are?" Clank stammered, having trouble formulating sentences correctly. Ratchet groaned. "My back hurts like hell and I still have a lot of cuts and bruises, but other than that I'm still breathing. Thanks for the Nanotech, pal. I don't know if I'd have made it otherwise. But how are _you_ feeling?"

"Feeling not well am I." Clank said. "Damaged hardware various."

"Yeah, you've got a problem alright." Ratchet said. "Come on, maybe there's a mechanic around here somewhere.

Ratchet helped Clank attach himself to the Lombax' back, and Ratchet walked through a short tunnel, then turned right. Suddenly, Clank spoke up with Brax' voice. "Hey, Ratchet, where'd you go? We're supposed to start your training in a few minutes!"

"Rangers incoming Galactic message the from." Clank stammered afterwards.

"Sorry, Brax!" Ratchet yelled, hoping Brax could hear him. "We ran into a bit of, uh... 'ship trouble'. Looks like there's still a few Blarg in the city."

"We must've missed them during our sweep of the perimeter! Brax, you better check the Hall of Heroes to see if they didn't make it inside!" Cora replied through Clank.

"Copy that!" Ratchet could hear Brax say in the background, indicating that he was already running.

"In the meantime," Cora continued, "There's a friend not far from your position who can help you out. His name's Al. I was gonna wait until after training to introduce you to him, but now's a good a time as any. Go to his workshop downtown and ask him to upgrade Clank. If he knows it's for the Rangers, he should do it for free."

"Alri-wait, so now you do know where I am?" Ratchet asked.

"Elaris was able to track down the signal of that robot friend of yours, we figured you'd be with him." Cora replied.

"Huh. Well, I'll head over to Al's. Thanks!" Ratchet replied. Cora didn't respond.

"Convenient how!" Clank said.

"You know, it's beginning to scare me." Ratchet said. As he walked on however, a pack of robotic dogs suddenly stormed out of the shadows. Ratchet was able to take down two of them with his wrench, but the third one got lucky, chomping down hard on Ratchet's arm and pulling out a decent amount of fur when Ratchet managed to shake it off. Still having the fur in it's maw, the robot shook it's head wildly, tearing it apart, then growled menacingly.

It was then that a beam of cyan light came crashing down from above, obliterating the creature. Hypernova came flying down. "Oh, thank Orvus you're still in one piece! Are any of you hurt?"

Ratchet only had to raise his arm. Hypernova raised his hand and a cyan-colored mist came shooting out of his hand. The second it touched Ratchet's skin, the Lombax felt better than ever. When he checked a second later, all of his injuries were gone.

"Ratchet, who did this to you?!"

"I don't know, this pack of robotic dogs just came charging out of nowhere!"

"Then how do you explain a bomb underneath your ship?"

"There are still a few Blarg in the city, but I can't say if the two cases are connected."

Hypernova walked over to one of the beaten-up robotic dogs and took a good look at him. "Yep, Drek Industries." Hypernova said with disgust. He turned to Ratchet. "I heard what Cora said. I'll protect you until we reach Al's, after that, you're on your own. I've got to clear the rest of the Blarg in the city. When you're at Al's, exit through the back door. You should be able to reach the Grav-Train station from there. There is a Grav-Train heading to the Hall of Heroes that departs in roughly an hour, so you have plenty of time. Can you take out any Blargs you may encounter while I sweep the rest of the city?"

"No problem." Ratchet replied. "I've got very little ammo though."

Hypernova nodded. "That reminds me, I've got something for you."

He pulled out a long, bulky-looking two-handed weapon. "This is the Bouncer. This thing fires huge packs of grenades that detonate into smaller clusters, then seek out opponents. This thing can wreck tanks but it's ammo is limited, so use it wisely."

"Got it." Ratchet replied as he took the weapon.

They walked on. After making a turn left however, a group of Blarg came out of hiding, with two Blargian assault helicopters moving into position as well. "We're gonna send you to Lombax Heaven!" one of the Blarg pilots yelled. "Really? We might as well do him a favor and send him to some other hell, Lombax heaven is already overcrowded!" A bulky Blargian foot soldier joked.

"Overcrowded? What do they mean?" Ratchet asked Hypernova. The hero in white did not respond, however. He just stood there. Suddenly he shot forward at an incredible speed and tore the helicopters apart with his bare hands, then threw them, along with their pilots and the rest of the Blarg, off the walkway and down into the abyss. "And tell your buddies that the next one to make a joke like that will be turned inside out by yours truly!" he yelled after them with enough venom to kill a civilization.

"Why are you suddenly so violent?" Ratchet asked.

Hypernova took a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about it. It doesn't only hurt, but it's for your own good as well. Now please, drop the subject."

"Okay, okay." Ratchet said. "It's just... you seem to know everything, about my family, about the Lombaxes, everything I always wanted to know. And now the answers are so close, yet they're kept just out of reach. That stinks, you know."

"Trust me, no, I swear on my very soul that if it wouldn't put you in immense danger I would tell you everything you'd ever want to know. But please, accept the fact that I cannot, it'll only make this easier for the both of us." Hypernova replied as they walked on.

When they reached Al's, they saw something odd. Al's workshop was closed, and a squad of Blargian mercenaries was trying to break it open.

"They're going after Big Al?" Hypernova wondered out loud as he swatted the Blarg aside with a giant fist made of cyan-colored energy. "Why, I wonder."

He grabbed the collar of one of the Blarg soldiers. "Speak, soldier! What is your mission?!"

The Blarg noticed Ratchet. "Wait, didn't I blow you up?!"

Hypernova's attitude suddenly changed. His left hand suddenly transformed into a minigun and he pointed it at the Blarg's face. "Listen. Very. Closely. If you don't want me to pump so much lead into that mug of yours that they're gonna think you're a Sharkagator, then you answer every single one of my questions!"

"N-nope!"

"Who gave the order? I'm gonna give you ten seconds."

"I won't say!"

"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! POW!"

The Blarg nearly jumped out of his skin.

"WHO GAVE THE ORDER?!"

"Chairman Alonzo Drek!" The Blarg yelled back. Hypernova slammed the Blarg into the ground. Suddenly, cyan handcuffs appeared around the hands of the mercenaries. "You're all under arrest for possession of stolen property, vandalism, attempted break-in and attempted murder. Everything you say can and _will_ be used against you."

Meanwhile Ratchet was watching, thinking. The group earlier, that had made jokes about dead Lombaxes, Hypenova had thrown them off a building, but this group was placed under arrest? Clearly dead Lombaxes were a punch in the gut to Hypernova, and Ratchet wondered why. It actually unsettled him, what did it mean? And why would Lombax heaven be overcrowded? Was his race-

"Ratchet?"

Ratchet shook his head. "Yeah?"

Hypernova was waiting for him next to the door of Al's workshop. "You coming?"

"Oh. Yes, I'm coming."

Hypernova managed to pry open a control panel next to the door and managed to hack the system, making the door open. As they walked in, Ratchet noticed the posters hanging on the wall. "Whooooaaa! I've died and gone to nerd heaven!"

Although Ratchet couldn't see it, Hypernova frowned.

"Just look at this!" Ratchet said, pointing at the posters. "They have 'My Blaster Runs Hot', 'Fongoid With a stick', 'Speero the Space Moose', they even have the mega-limited ultra edition of Intransigence: Fall of Blarg!"

"That's very interesting and all, but I wonder where Al is." Hypernova said, making a bio-scan. The bio-scan revealed a biosignature hiding inside a cardboard box in the back of the shop. Hypernova jumped over the counter and pulled the box off Al. "Gotcha, Snake."

"Who are you?! And who the heck is Snake? Don't make me call the authorities!"

"Relax, Al. I'm Hypernova and this is Ratchet. Ratchet is a Galactic Ranger, I'm not with the Rangers but I'm one of the good guys. We've got a robot ally that we would like you to have a look at."

Al had the nickname 'Big Al' for a reason, he was a huge man, both vertically and horizontally speaking. Al was covered in orange-yellow fur, although the fur on the lower half of his face was slightly darker.

Al had three fingers and was wearing black jeans and white coat over a green vest. The green vest had a red circle on it with a malfunctioning robot on it, and Al had various gadgets stored in the pockets of his coat, from screwdrivers to a tesla-laser. He also had a green stickpin with Qwark's emblem on it on his coat, as well as a smaller stickpin that was blue in color and had a bolt on it.

Al had short, spiky hair that was a bit more reddish in color, and it was held up by a black headband with some sort of apparatus attached to it that could best be described as a minor telescope. A pair of round glasses rested on a reddish nose, while the glasses were further held in place by a pair of narrow metal bars linking it to the back of Al's headband, ensuring that it wouldn't fall off while he was at work.

Al had helped Clank sit down on his workbench before carefully making Clank shut down. Clank retracted his limbs until he had a backpack-like shape, the same form he took on when on Ratchet's back. Al carefully opened up a panel in the back of Clank's head and got to work.

Meanwhile Ratchet was staring in awe at all of the advanced robotic equipment scattered about. "That's a Dragonmark-7 processor! You can't even _buy_ these!" he said with excitement, pointing at a small chip.

"Interesting." Hypernova said. "Can you tell me more about it?"

"Octa-core processor, 8.72 gigahertz?"

Hypernova chuckled. "That's but a toy, Ratchet. At least, compared to the processor I've built into this suit."

"Oh?"

"78315 GHz."

"What?! How?!"

"Well, if I can make this suit, why wouldn't I be able to make such a processor?"

"What do you even _use_ that for?"

"With this processor I can log everything I see and calculate things faster than it'd take a soundwave to travel two picocubits."

"Name an example."

"Okay." Hypernova said. He suddenly pointed up. "That is the exact position of my home planet in two million years, calculated precisely using maths and physics in the span of a millisecond. See how much of a tactical advantage this gives me?"

"Dang."

Ratchet sat down. "You know... can you tell me more about them? The Lombaxes?"

"I can tell you some things, but not here and not now. I can sense Al's nearly finished, and we still have a few Blargs to get rid of."

"You're correct." Al said as he restarted Clank. "I must admit, your timing with that sentence scares me. How did you know?"

"I pay close attention, you know. It's a useful survival skill to be alert to everything."

"Hmm. Well, your robot friend should wake up any second now."

Al was correct, Clank's eyes opened a few moments later. "Is there something I have missed in my absence?" he asked as he got up.

"Nope, you're up to speed. Good to have you back, pal."

Clank chuckled. "It certainly is a relief to be able to formulate sentences correctly again."

Ratchet turned to Al. "How much to I owe you?"

Al smiled. "Anything to help the Rangers. I assumed you two were the ones Cora called me about, the ones in need of a Heli-Pack upgrade, so I installed that right away. You know, she and I kind of have a will-we, won't-we romance in progress."

"Uh-huh." Ratchet said with a raised eyebrow.

After Clank had hopped onto Ratchet's back, Hypernova cleared his throat. "I said I'd protect you until we'd get to Al's, I'll go sweep the rest of the city. I've seen you fight, I'm sure you can take care of any Blarg that cross your path."

Ratchet nodded. "We're on it. Good luck out there."

"Same to you." Hypernova said before running out of Al's workshop and flying up into the sky. "I don't think I'll ever fully get used to that guy." Ratchet said.

"I can see why." Clank responded as they walked out of Al's workshop. Ratchet noticed that they had to climb to the roof of a building, and that the only way up was a stack of huge crates, too large for him to climb. Thankfully, Clank's new Heli-Pack upgrade was able to boost Ratchet up into the sky high enough for the Lombax to grab the edge of one of the crates and pull himself up.

After reaching the roof, they took an elevator to a higher roof, only to find themselves at a dead end.

The only way ahead was by jumping a huge distance to the next building. However, Clank managed to save the day again. Although he wasn't strong enough to keep the Lombax airborne forever, he could drastically slow Ratchet's fall. Ratchet took a deep breath, then ran forward as fast as he could.

The moment he jumped off the building Clank activated the Heli-Pack, and they crossed the gap with ease.

Landing on a small garden on a rooftop, the duo walked on, only to quickly take cover behind a large boulder as a squad of Blarg came down to their level by using an elevator up ahead.

The Blargs sent a squad of robotic dogs to force the duo out and into the open, but Ratchet was prepared, giving the electronic canine creatures a smack with his wrench. The four Blargian mercenaries were quickly taken care of as well, five fusion grenade getting rid of two while leaving the two others injured.

Some fast action with the Combustor finished them off, and the duo took the elevator up to a higher rooftop garden. They could see the station up ahead, but the bridge leading to it was infested with Blarg.

And they were all gunning for Ratchet and Clank.

Rolling out of the way and behind a pillar, Ratchet reloaded his Combustor before tossing a few grenades around his cover to at least force the enemy to retreat.

Using the distraction to his advantage, Ratchet jumped out of cover and fired his Combustor like nobody's business, firing plasma bullets as fast as the anti-overheating system would allow.

That was a big mistake, Ratchet had heavily underestimated the amount of Blarg on the bridge. Forty-seven blasters were all aimed at one target, and they pulled the trigger at the same time.

However, Hypernova jumped in front of Ratchet at the very last second.

In less than a second, the hero in white had snatched Ratchet's wrench and held it in front of him. He began to spin the wrench around at such an incredible speed that all of the incoming projectiles were either blasted aside or sent right back the way they came.

"How do you do that?!" Ratchet asked in awe.

Hypernova smiled underneath his helmet. "It's an old trick I learned from the Lombax Praetorian Guard."

"Can you teach me more?"

"Certainly." Hypernova said as he formed a cyan barrier in front of them. Giving the wrench back to Ratchet, Hypernova opened his hand. A long, double-ended wrench formed in his hands. He held it behind him in his right hand as the barrier vanished, one head of the wrench resting on the ground while the other end was just behind Hypernova's shoulder. "This, Ratchet, is the 'Guard Stance'. It doesn't only look dangerous, but Praetorian Guards can easily combo and defend out of this stance, and very fast too. For example..."

Hypernova spun the double-ended wrench made of cyan energy in front of him in order to reflect the gunfire. As the enemies' blasters ran out of ammo, Hypernova made his move, charging into the fray while readying the wrench for an overhead strike.

Whacking one Blarg on the head with enough force to send him off to dreamland immediately, Hypernova allowed his opponents no breathing room as the wrench slashed across the ground, making all of the Blarg it hit fall over. Hypernova then shot forward, taking down all of the Blarg, one by one in one big combo. As the last Blarg fell, the wrench disappeared. "I'll teach you some of the Praetorian Guard's fighting techniques later. I saw a Blargian squad heading to a densely-populated district when I had to save you again though, so I have no time to waste."

Ratchet nodded. "Understood, thanks for the help."

Hypernova flew away, heading to a large skyscraper in the distance. Meanwhile Ratchet walked to the train station. From a small square in front of the station, Ratchet walked up a staircase into the station itself. Crates were stacked everywhere, the path to his right was blocked by them and only half of the path to his left was still open.

Ratchet noticed three Blarg talking to each other, and decided to use the element of surprise. He threw a Fusion Grenade at the bulkiest Blarg, catching the other two in the blast radius as well, although two more grenades were necessary to finish them off.

"Attention! Grav-Train A is about to depart. Next stop: the Hall of Heroes. Please stand clear." a robotic, female voice spoke through various speakers embedded in the walls of the station. "Snap, we better get going." Ratchet said. The train on their side of the station showed no signs of life, but the train behind it, on the other hand, was making louder and louder noises as it got ready to leave.

Ratchet quickly climbed onto the train that wasn't leaving before jumping to the departing train just in time to grab the edge of the final cart. Pulling himself up, Ratchet had just enough time to look behind him at the station before the train flew out into the city, guided by a holographical rail.

Ratchet saw that the train he was on was a cargo train, and he could hear voices coming from the next cart. "Alright, team! Chairman Drek wants this payload delivered to the Hall of Heroes, pronto!"

"Come on, Clank. Let's make sure that doesn't happen." Ratchet whispered whist grabbing his Combustor. As Clank gave him a boost, Ratchet opened fire, landing on top of a stack of crates and quickly taking out the Blarg soldier up ahead. Ratchet jumped to the next cart, which had a silver statue of Captain Qwark on it. A Blarg came running from behind the statue, and saw Ratchet. "What is that, a squirrel?"

Ratchet quickly opened fire and was able to take down his opponent in a matter of seconds. Moving on, Ratchet saw that the next cart had two spaceships on it, and the only way around it was by breaking the grav-wrapper that kept the ships in place.

The moment the orange shield around the two ships disappeared, the two ships fell of the train and exploded. "Heh... I hope that didn't cost too much." Ratchet said.

The next cart were two glass tanks filled with water, with the first one containing a Sharkagator and the other containing a few orange pufferfish-like creatures.

"I'm sure there's a very good reason for transporting killer fish." Ratchet said as he climbed around the tanks, ending up on top of them. He jumped onto the next cart, and immediately two green tentacles shot out of the darkness, through two openings in the roof. "Whoa, live animals on-board!" Ratchet said as he fired a combustor round at both of the tentacles, forcing the predators to retreat. When Ratchet dropped down to the next cart, a Blargian helicopter came flying at him, but a few Fusion Grenades took care of that problem, breaking the tail rotor and sending the helicopter crashing into the cart up ahead.

The cart had been covered in rows upon rows of crates, but most of the crates were blown off the train when the helicopter slammed into them, allowing Ratchet to pass.

The next cart, however, drew their attention. Attached to the cart by several five-inch thick screws was a huge orb. Orange plasma was shooting back and forth within. "That bomb has a five kiloton payload!" Clank said. "It is also proximity-triggered, and will detonate upon arrival at the Hall of Heroes."

"I see, then it's time for an early drop-off." Ratchet said.

Easier said, than done. Four Blarg were waiting for them, and two Blarg assault helicopters provided aerial support.

Ratchet quickly dove behind one of the crates. "Clank, any ideas? I'm not sure if using bombs is a good idea with that bomb around."

"True, I would not risk using explosives. I think, however, that the aircrafts are a much greater threat."

Ratchet nodded as he grabbed his Combustor. Peeking around cover, he was able to get rid of one of the pilots with a lucky shot in the face. This shot would not go unnoticed however, and Ratchet quickly got back into cover.

"Clank, I don't think I can pull off another one of those lucky shots." Ratchet said.

"I have a plan." Clank quickly said. The small robot hopped off Ratchet's back, and dove off the train. "Clank!" Ratchet yelled, but it was too late.

Ratchet took a deep breath. Those Blarg were going to pay. When he quickly peeked around cover, however, he saw Clank coming up behind the remaining helicopter, having used his heli-pack to fly under the train. Due to the noise of the helicopter, the pilot had no idea of the robot landing in the cockpit, right behind him, and when he felt a metal hand hitting the back of his head, it was too late.

Because Clank's hands were metallic, the punch was strong enough to make the pilot lose consciousness. Clank jumped out of the helicopter and managed to land back on the train. Ratchet quickly got out of cover and opened fire on the Blarg to cover Clank so the robot could get away.

But Clank had a different plan. Using the chaos, Clank hid behind the bomb, only to come out of hiding a few seconds later, and with style! Clank had climbed on top of the bomb and suddenly dropped down on the bulkiest Blarg, kicking the enemy in the face hard enough to break their nose. Using the moment, Ratchet was able to take out the three other Blarg. Grabbing his OmniWrench, Ratchet made a low sweep at the Blarg's legs, making the Blarg fall over. Meanwhile, Clank jumped, and landed on the back of the Blarg's head, knocking him out.

"Attention passengers! The A-train will arrive at the Hall of Heroes in a few seconds. Please stand clear.

Ratchet jumped to the locomotive immediately and began to turn the bolt crank with his OmniWrench. Clank followed him and helped him push.

"Arriving in five..."

"Come on..."

"Four..."

"Three..."

"Two..."

Suddenly, the cart with the bomb on it shot loose and stopped pretty quickly, and just in time too. Ratchet let out a sigh of relief. "That was close."

"Agreed. The Blarg must be stopped."

"Indeed, pal."

"Now arriving at: The Hall of Heroes." the speakers built into the train informed, and sure enough the train came to a stop just outside the Hall of Heroes.

The duo got off the train, passed through the gates and walked to the Hall of Heroes. Brax was waiting for them outside. "There you are, rookie."

"Brax, we've just prevented the Blarg from bombing the Hall of Heroes with a five-kiloton bomb. It's still on the train tracks somewhere over there. Don't worry, it's proximity-triggered, but someone needs to disarm it and get it out of there."

Brax' eyes widened. "A bomb?! Whoa, we owe you one, rookie. I'll send a team to go pick it up. Before I do that though, follow me for a moment." Brax said as he walked into the Hall of Heroes, Ratchet and Clank following him.

"We've received clearance to attack Drek Industries in three days." Brax said. "That means, you'll be getting the accelerated course."

They passed by an open door. Ratchet and Clank paused to look what was inside.

It was a small room, and a woman was standing in front of a huge monitor, holding a controller. "That's right, lives-at-home472!" she yelled as she was playing an online game. "What's the matter, don't like getting your butt kicked? Oh, what are you gonna do now, cry to your mommy?"

"Wait... are you really crying?" the woman said as she heard crying through the voice-chat.

"Hey Elaris?" Brax asked. The woman jumped a little. She turned off her game and put down her controller immediately. "Hey, Brax!" she said as she turned around. "Is that my new assistant?" she asked, nodding in Clank's direction.

"Greetings!" Clank said. "Your office is most, uh... impressive." he said as he looked around the room. It almost looked like a broom closet with a few monitors shoved in.

Elaris chuckled. "Elaris here is in charge of developing our gear, and provide tactical support." Brax explained to Ratchet.

"Usually it's the former." Elaris said. "The Rangers are the shoot-first-think-later type."

She chuckled, before realizing something. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that." she said to Brax, who was spinning his Combustor around absentmindedly. "Like what now?" he asked when he realized that he was being spoken to.

Elaris knelt down, bringing herself to Clank's eye level. "Come on, I'll show you around."

Meanwhile Brax tapped his Combustor against Ratchet's chest. "Let's go Cadet. Time to make you a Ranger."

Clank turned around and watched as Ratchet left the room, following Brax. "I'll see you in a bit!" Ratchet said to Clank before leaving. Clank barely had time to wave goodbye before the door closed. "We're gonna have so much fun!" Elaris said excitedly.

Meanwhile Ratchet followed Brax through the hallways before they reached a large steel door. It slid open in front of them. Brax didn't move. "Well, good luck." he said before he gave Ratchet a push forward. The door closed behind him immediately.

The room was a bit dark, and Ratchet decided to have a look around. He slowly walked forward, scanning the area for potential foes in case this was a training session.

Suddenly, he heard Qwark's voice. "Welcome, Cadet!"

The floor below Ratchet lit up, and before he had time to react a circular panel that he had been standing on flew up and into the air.

Ratchet turned around as the lights went on, and he could see Cora, Qwark, Brax and Hypernova watching him from an observation area. "Let's get you into your new Protosuit." Qwark said as he pressed a button. Ratchet shivered as he felt something crawl up his back. When he looked to his hands though, he saw that they had begun to glow, and a few moments later the glow faded.

Ratchet gasped when he saw that his Protosuit had been teleported onto him. "Your Protosuit is the most advanced combat armor on the market. And it comes in all the latest fall colors!" Qwark said. Hypernova stepped forward. "I altered the design for you. The Ranger Protosuit is made of Titanium and Platinum plating with an inner layer of Sargassian Troglosaur skin. Altogether they should reduce damage taken by 76%. Your Protosuit also provides life support, meaning that you can explore more hostile environments."

The Protosuit was deep blue and orange in color, with extra plating for Ratchet's large ears and tail. The helmet closed automatically, deploying an orange-tinted visor in front of Ratchet's face.

"Sweet!" Ratchet said excitedly.

"The neurosensor in your helmet reads your thoughts and tele-quips the desired weapon into your hand." Qwark said. Meanwhile, the heads-up display in Ratchet's helmet activated, showing detailed info on the armor's condition, the life support systems, weapon ammunition and, of course, the available weaponry.

"Try equipping a Combustor." Qwark said as a weapon rack moved into the room, out of Ratchet's reach. Ratchet opened his hand and focused on the Combustor. Nothing happened. He focused on it even more, gritting his teeth in annoyance. Suddenly, the weapon disappeared, appearing in Ratchet's hand a second later. "There you go." Qwark said.

"Combustor equipped." A robotic voice spoke inside Ratchet's helmet. "Wicked!" Ratchet said, inspecting the weapon.

"The Combustor is the backbone of a Ranger's arsenal, allowing you to his targets on a short to medium range." Qwark explained.

"What the Combustor may lack in stopping power, it makes up for with it's decent fire rate and ammo capacity." Hypernova added. "In situations where you need a fast damage output, the Combustor wouldn't be the best choice, but in most other situations it's a fast and reliable way to deal some damage."

Hypernova realized something. "Oh, and one more thing-"

Ratchet had already pulled the trigger. Not expecting the recoil, he spun around and fell over. "This is embarrassing." Cora groaned.

"Give him a break, I forgot to explain that the Ranger Combustor has more recoil, but deals a bit more damage. He's used to a lightweight Combustor, high speed, low damage and recoil." Hypernova said. "Besides, don't tell me y'all got the hang of your weapons immediately. Anyhow, next weapon. Allow me to give you one of my personal favorites, Ratchet."

The Combustor disappeared, and was replaced with a green, bulky weapon. Ratchet let the back of the weapon rest on his shoulder and turned it on. "The Alpha Disruptor is, in fact, a Lombax weapon, so I suppose you'll feel right at home here. This weapon launches blasts of plasma allowing you to hit multiple targets at once. Let it charge up for more damage. It has a high damage output, but lacks in fire speed and ammunition, you only got a few shots with this thing, so make 'em count."

But again, the recoil took Ratchet by surprise, sending him flying in the opposite direction, and he ended up bouncing through the room, desperately trying to launch himself back to the platform.

"See? He's got it." Brax said. The ammo ran out though, and Ratchet fell to the ground with a loud "Whoa!"

"Sort of." Brax added.

"Hmm... maybe the Negotiator?" Cora suggested.

The Alpha Disruptor was replaced by a bulky orange rocket launcher. "This little baby is the Negotiator." Qwark explained. "Fires multiple long range high-impact rockets. Great versus heavy armor!"

The outcome was Ratchet bouncing through the room again. "Erm... you _can_ use the explosion to launch yourself... if you don't mind losing your legs." Brax said.

"Buzz Blades?" Qwark asked.

The outcome of that was even more destructive, with Ratchet running for his life while multiple miniature circle-saw like projectiles chased him through the room.

"The Warmonger?"

The Warmonger was a massive rocket launcher, having four rockets ready to fire at once. Ratchet ended up getting chased by his own missiles and was barely able to jump out of the way.

"I dunno... Spiral of Death?"

The Spiral of Death had a blue circle-saw made of energy that, when fired, drilled it's way through an opponent before making it's way back to the weapon. Ratchet fired it once, and caught the blade again. He fired it a second time, but he was barely able to jump out of the way before he'd lose his feet. He let out a sigh of relief before realizing that the floating platform that he had been standing on had been cut in half. It fell apart a second later.

"Fusion Grenade?"

"Ooh, I know this one!" Ratchet said as he threw a bomb. "Wait! Don't throw it indoors!" Hypernova yelled, but it was too late. The bomb bounced back into Ratchet's face. The Rangers turned away, covering their eyes. When they turned back to the window...

"Wow." Qwark said.

"Dude." Brax added. Ratchet had been slammed against the window. "How am I doing?" he asked before he slid off the window and fell to the ground.

"Not well. You need more training, rookie." Brax said.

"I have no time to train him!" Qwark said.

"Me neither, I have a bomb to get rid of."

"A WHAT?!"

"Long story."

They turned to Cora. Cora rolled her eyes. "Heck no."

"I'll do it." Hypernova said.

"You?" Qwark asked in disbelief.

"Me. I've probably got the most experience here, so I'd say it wouldn't be more than fitting that I train him."

"You? The most combat experience?" Qwark said before laughing out loud.

"I can defeat an entire army with my bare hands in under a minute. Your turn." Hypernova calmly replied.

Qwark rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

But then he realized something. He shook his head. "Wait, Ratchet has to finish the physical condition test first."

"The what?"

"He has to complete an obstacle course." Brax explained. "I'll walk him through that, but then I'm out to lunch."

* * *

"So, what's next? HALO-dive into enemy territory? Sub-orbital combat training?" Ratchet asked as he and Brax walked to the training course right next to the Hall of Heroes.

"In time, rookie." Brax replied with a chuckle. This Lombax sure was eager to get going. Ratchet turned around when he heard metal footsteps behind him, and saw Clank running up to him. Once Clank had attached himself to Ratchet's back, the Lombax took a deep breath and made a run for it. He immediately jumped from platform to platform, before jumping from wall to wall to reach the top of the first tower. Jumping off the tower, Ratchet fired the Swingshot embedded in his left glove to swing to the base of the next tower. Jumping from platform to platform, Ratchet found out that some platforms slid out of the wall, before sliding back in a second later.

They still were no challenge for Ratchet as he kept running and jumping, before finally reaching the top. He jumped off the tower, and Clank activated his Heli-Pack, allowing Ratchet to glide down to the finish line. Brax was waiting for him, an airtaxi had brought him there. "Six minutes. Not bad, rookie."

Brax pointed at the airtaxi. "Take that taxi back to the Hall of Heroes, Captain Qwark has something for you. He's waiting outside the Hall of Heroes."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine." Brax said with a laugh. "My own taxi should be here any second now."

Ratchet shrugged and climbed into the yellow automated vehicle. It brought Ratchet back to the start of the obstacle course, and he could see Qwark waiting in the distance, standing on the landing pad outside the Hall of Heroes.

Ratchet walked closer. "Since you're now... 'one of us'." Qwark said with a sigh before stepping aside. "I thought it was time to get you a new ride."

"Whoa! A class-g Star Jumper... is this for me?" Ratchet asked.

"Technically it's Galactic Ranger property, but if you survive – erm, complete this super-secret-yet-completely-on-the-level-mission, she'll be yours to use however you like."

"What is this 'secret mission'?" Clank asked.

"I call it: 'Operation: Falling Star.'" Qwark said as he pulled out an infobot.

Firstly, the Ranger symbol was shown on the infobot's screen, in front of a starry background. "Congratulations, cadet! You've been selected for Operation: Falling Star." Qwark spoke.

The video then showed a few blurry image of a space station built inside an asteroid field. "Galactic Ranger intel tells us Chairman Drek has built a state-of-the-art weapons lab in Nebula G34. Your mission is to destroy his top-secret project without - and this is important - telling _anyone_. Ever. Seriously, this is our little secret."

"Sure, but I don't see why-" Ratchet said, only to get cut off by Qwark. "Please save your questions until the end of the presentation."

The video then showed an animation of Ratchet shooting down some Blarg, it seemed to have been made with a cheap image-editing program rather than animating software. "You'll need to access Drek's laboratory using a Trespasser, your wits, and the kind of fortitude normally found in more _seasoned_ Rangers. Get in, destroy whatever he's working on, and get out. I'll monitor your position from here. Good luck!"

Qwark walked back to the Hall of Heroes. Ratchet shrugged. "Well, the sooner we bring down whatever Drek's been working on, the better, let's not give him the chance to complete whatever it is."

"Agreed." Clank said as he climbed into the ship. Ratchet got in as well, and flew off to Nebula G34.

Meanwhile Hypernova was walking through the hallways of the Hall of Heroes, looking for Ratchet. He ran into Qwark instead. "Qwark, have you seen Ratchet? I was going to teach him some combat tricks."

"Uuh... nope!" Qwark said before he walked on.

Hypernova watched him go, raising an eyebrow. Something was off.

And he was going to find out what.

* * *

 **Alright, let's end this chapter on a note: I'll be updating stories much more frequently from now on. In fact I have two more chapters nearly ready to go, although I'll leave a week in between each chapter to give you all some time to read (and possibly review) so you all don't get flooded all of a sudden.  
**

 **But yeah, I'm not dead, people! And I'm ready to get this story back on the road!**


	7. ScienceFiction Overdrive

**Alright, still here!**

 **...**

 **I really have no inspiration for author's notes right now I'm afraid, add to that I'm writing this on a new computer I put together a few weeks ago. Intel i5 quad core, Nvidia 4GB GPU and 8GB worth of ram, it's a dream come true!**

 **The keyboard is not, however. It's excellent for gaming, don't get me wrong, but it's a nightmare for typing, I make typo's all the time!**

 **In facdt I am writing this sentence without correcting any mistake I make. So far only one typo? Dang, when Iwwant to - otthere we go. See? The space adn shift keys don't register that well, I'm afraid.**

 **Back to correcting typo's again. Anyhow, let's just get this show on the road.**

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **Max Chronicle: " _Yoda, Clank is. Shiz really that is.  
Okay enough of that, I suck at doing that. But what doesn't suck, this chapter. Also, what's up with the Bouncer appearing all of sudden? Legendary Bogonite Weapon available to pre-order and the next thing I know, everyone is using it. Not that I have any problems with that, of course. It's legendary for a reason.  
Second, Hypernova was on fire today. Way to go, bro. Now, I can't wait for chapter seven. Going to be sick. Have fun and we'll talk later.  
Max out._"  
Thanks! I put a lot of effort into that little detail for some comic relief, and I'm glad it worked! And that Hypernova has the Bouncer doesn't mean it's a common weapon...**

 **Hypernova: "and you know it!" *Brofist***

 **rst64tlc: " _Awww, I was hoping you have a delayed reaction on how you're going to answer my question. pity. anyways I wonder what Hypernova will do the Qwark when he finds out_ "  
Sorry, I rarely spoil stuff in review replies. I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see, but trust me when I say that you'll find out soon enough. And what Hypernova will do to Qwark? Well... you'll be surprised. Again I won't be spoiling any of it, but you'll be surprised!**

* * *

 **Before we begin, may I express my thanks for the fact that people are still here? If you're reading this, then thank you so much! And I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

Soon, Nebula G34 came into view. Landing in a docking bay in the back of the asteroid field, Ratchet tried to stay undetected, and succeeded. Climbing out of the ship, he radioed Captain Qwark. "Captain, come in! Clank and I are in position and ready to commence Operation: Falling Star!" Ratchet whispered through the communications.

"Roger, cadet, you're clear to move out." Qwark replied.

But then Clank's antenna flashed. "Ratchet I am detecting a Drek Industries gadget outside this airlock."

"Sweet, let's check it out!" Ratchet said as he stepped into the airlock. However, as the area started de-pressurizing, Ratchet noticed that his visor wasn't auto-deploying like it was supposed to. He wanted to warn Clank or Qwark, but it was too late, the other door opened and Ratchet was exposed directly to a vacuum.

Thankfully, Clank had noticed that something was off. He got off Ratchet's back immediately and slammed the emergency lockdown button. The airlock closed immediately, and air was pumped back in.

Running to his friend, Clank quickly gave Ratchet some Nanotech that he had taken with him from the hall of heroes. "Thanks, pal." Ratchet said as he got up. "Still, what the hell just happened?"

"It seems your suit is malfunctioning. Perhaps I should venture outside the airlock on my own." Clank suggested.

"That seems to be our only shot." Ratchet said as he walked back to the ship. "I'll wait here, pal. Good luck!"

As Clank stepped out into the vacuum of space, he noticed that he was actually standing in an elevator. Stepping onto the button in the center of the room, the elevator began to move.

Stepping out of the elevator, Clank found himself outside the station, in an area likely used for maintenance. Clank began his search in a nearby docked shuttle. He noticed the closed back door immediately, and a quick scan confirmed his suspicion that, if he could manage to get it open, it would provide him with an excellent way to explore further.

Clank managed to find a Gadgebot in the Spring-Bot configuration, and used it to boost himself up to the cockpit of the ship. As there was no air, his Heli-Pack was useless here.

In the cockpit, however, he found something that would prove invaluable. "How fortuitous. It is a Gadgebot upgrade chip." Clank said to himself as he opened up his chest compartment and manually added the chip to his wiring.

He glitched a bit for a few seconds, but then he was good to go. After dropping down from the cockpit, Clank picked up the Spring-Bot again, but with his newly installed hardware, he could force the Gadgebot to take on a different form.

Clank made it transform into a Power-Bot, and placed it next to a power module that was, sadly out of power.

The Power-Bot took over the power module's functions, providing enough electricity for Clank to be able to open the doors.

Upon picking the bot up again, however, the doors slammed shut, indicating that they required a constant power surge.

"What an inefficient, yet remarkable system." Clank said to himself, although he made no sound without air.

"How's it going over there, pal?" Clank heard. It was Ratchet, on a secure radio channel.

"Very well. I just picked up a new gadget." Clank transmitted back with the antenna on his head.

"Ooh, man, what did you find?! You know you have to share whatever you found!"

Clank giggled at the thought of giving Ratchet the chip, saying something among the lines of 'have fun'. "I think I will keep these for me, thank you. However, there is another gadget nearby. I will collect it for you." he transmitted back. True to his word, the Gadgebot upgrade chip wasn't the gadget that he had noticed earlier.

"Oh, fine!" Ratchet transmitted as Clank stepped out of the shuttle onto a maintenance platform. Finding a Gadgebot that had not yet been assigned a function, Clank turned it into a Bridge-Bot, the third kind of Gadgebot configurations. Bridge-Bot were able to stretch their torso to incredible lengths while deploying platforms to create a bridge.

Clank threw the Bridge-Bot, and the robot's upper half shot forward, grabbing the edge of the next platform, while the Bridge-Bot's feet stayed behind as an anchoring point for the bridge it was about to deploy.

After the Bridge-Bot had been deployed, Clank walked across to a maintenance area, where he managed to find another Gadgebot, which brought him closer to a docked starship.

Upon entering the starship, the door closed behind Clank. The robot looked around. To his right was an uncharged power module, one that controlled the door. A scan of the system revealed that this one, too, would close if the power ran out, likely a safety precaution.

There were two neutral Gadgebots in the room, one up ahead, and one to Clank's left, on top of a ledge. "Quite the puzzle." the robot mumbled, again making no sound.

Clank grabbed the only Gadgebot that he could reach and transformed it into a Spring-Bot, and used it to grab the other Gadgebot. Now that he could reach both Gadgebots, Clank transformed them both into Power-Bots, and threw one of them at the power module. Latching on, the little robot opened the door. Clank placed a Power-Bot next to another power module that he found on the other side of the door, and with two Gadgebots providing power to the door, Clank was able to retrieve the first Gadgebot.

Then he used both to power up the two power modules necessary for opening the door to the cockpit.

Walking into the cockpit, the signal became overwhelming, there was no doubt that what the little robot was looking for was in this room, and after a while the robot's patience was rewarded.

A few minutes later, Ratchet got up as the airlock hissed, and Clank came walking out with a pair of silver boots. Clank gave them to Ratchet, but as soon as the Lombax took them to take a good look at them, Clank jumped at him.

"Hey! You giving me these or not?" Ratchet asked to the robot, who was sticking to the boots like glue.

"They are magnetic. I appear to be stuck to them." Clank explained.

"Oh. Oops!" Ratchet said as he pulled the boots away from each other, releasing Clank.

The robot shot backwards and slammed into the wall with a loud "Oof!"

"You okay, pal?" Ratchet asked.

Clank giggled. "I have been through worse."

Ratchet nodded. "What are these anyway?" he asked, staring at the shoes.

"They are Magne-Boots. Wearing them should allow you to walk on magnetized or electrically charged metal surfaces, including walls and ceilings. If the magnetic attraction is sufficient, that is."

"let's hope so." Ratchet said. "I bet they'll come in handy. Awesome work, pal! But what upgrade did you find that you'll keep to yourself?"

Clank let out his trademark giggle. "I doubt that it would be of much use to you. It is an upgrade chip for robotic life forms, this one allows me to reprogram Gadgebots, as long as I am holding them."

Ratchet chuckled. "Nope, I can't use those."

"Ratchet, come in!" Qwark suddenly spoke through the communications. "What's our status on Operation: Falling Star?"

"Erm, we got a little distracted. We're on it!"

"Copy that. I'm counting on you, Ratchet. Qwark out."

"Come on, pal. Let's get going." Ratchet said.

Walking to the other side of the hangar, the duo was presented with two options, either explore the rest of the station, or take a shuttle to a decommissioned Blargian warship.

"A Blarg warship?" Ratchet asked.

"Correct." Clank said, reading the data on the monitors of the shuttle. "This one seems to have been created to store or transport Drek's high-value experiments."

"Sounds like what we're looking for. Alright, let's go." Ratchet said, sitting down in what he thought was the pilot's seat. "So, where's the steering wheel in this thing?"

Clank giggled. "Ratchet, that seat is embedded in the wall for a reason. I believe that you are sitting on the shuttle's sanitary provisions."

"Eugh!" Ratchet said, getting up immediately. "But it's the only seat in this thing!"

"Correct. This ship has auto-piloting. I am currently hacking the computer so that it can take us to the warship without alerting anyone on-board of our presence."

A few minutes later the doors closed behind them, and they were off.

Docking the shuttle in the back of the warship, the duo silently got out. Ratchet tip-toed over to a corner and glanced around it. He noticed a Blargian soldier, the Blarg was sitting against the wall, typing on his mobile phone.

Ratchet grabbed his Combustor and fired, but forgetting about his lack of training when it came to dealing with the Protosuit, he only hit the Blarg's phone, sending it flying out of the surprised Blarg's hands.

"Sonuva-" the Blarg yelled, getting up. He froze when he saw the Lombax with the robot on his back. "Hey! You shouldn't be in he-"

Ratchet quickly knocked the Blarg out cold with his wrench. He was then presented with two choices, go either left or right. "Both hallways lead to the same room." Clank informed, having downloaded a map of the warship from the shuttle's computer.

"Alright then." Ratchet whispered, going right.

He entered a larger, rectangular room with four large machines built against the left and right walls. Two Blarg were also present, arguing.

Ratchet decided to try his luck with his Combustor again, and this time, he managed to score a hit in the face. The other Blarg, however, was alerted immediately, reaching for his Blaster. Ratchet quickly jumped out of the way of the laser fire sent his way, and after five shots, the Blarg reloaded his weapon, leaving Ratchet with an opportunity to strike.

Ratchet shot forward, but the Blarg had already reloaded his weapon, and fired. Out of instinct, Ratchet raised his wrench defensively, and luckily for him, it blocked the shot.

After striking down the other Blarg, Ratchet walked on, to the ship's cockpit.

The cockpit was round, with a walkway shaped like a crescent moon leading up to the level Ratchet was on. Up ahead, on the other side of the room, Ratchet could see two Blarg staring at something. After sneaking closer, Ratchet saw that it was an experimental weapon on a pedestal.

"Ain't she a beaut?" one of the Blarg said.

Before the other Blarg could respond, Ratchet threw a bomb in between the two, sending the two Blarg flying into the walls.

With the two Blarg out cold, Ratchet smashed the casing protecting the weapon and picked it up.

He inspected the weapon, and learned that it was called the 'Predator Launcher'.

Suddenly, the alarms went off. "Alert! Unauthorized experimental weapon removal! Self-Destruct sequence initiated!" the computer blared, and a monitor on the wall showed a thirty-second countdown.

The whole ship shook as it began to explode. "Oh, shit!" Ratchet yelled, making a run for it.

* * *

 _Meanwhile on Kerwan..._

* * *

"Elaris, have you seen Ratchet or Clank?" Hypernova asked.

"Nope, sorry." Elaris said, glancing over her shoulder. "Weren't they supposed to be with you?"

"Ratchet was, I was supposed to teach him some combat tricks. He's not helpless in combat, but he's mostly acting on luck and instinct rather than skill, which is very dangerous."

Elaris shrugged. "Well, I haven't seen 'em. Let me know when you do, I've got something that I need Clank's opinion on."

"You got it." Hypernova said, walking off. He began to think, where could they be?

After a while, he heard something. It was Ratchet. "Oh, shit!" he heard the Lombax yell from afar.

"Oh, no." Hypernova muttered, activating his hoverboots and racing to where the sound had come from.

Kicking down the door to Qwark's quarters, he scanned the area.

"Aah!"

Turning to where the sound came from, he saw Qwark. In bed. Watching TV. "What's wrong with you?! Don't you know the word 'knocking'?"

"I heard a scream coming from this room."

"Maybe because I'm watching an action movie?"

"It was Ratchet's voice."

Qwark shrugged. "You probably heard it wrong."

Hypernova walked closer to see the video for himself, but Qwark quickly turned off the monitor, and the sounds of explosions and yells vanished.

Hypernova tilted his head slightly. "Mind to explain the reason behind this childish move?"

"I don't have to explain anything! Now get out of my room!"

There was something fishy going on, Hypernova could feel it. "Okay then." he said, walking out of the room. However, he let his hand rest on the monitor for a second, and he managed to retrieve some of the footage that Qwark had been watching.

He gasped when he saw what it was. Apparently taken from Ratchet's perspective, it was footage of a self-destruct sequence of a ship. He could be sure that it was Ratchet when he heard the Lombax yell in response to the ship starting to self-destruct.

Hypernova quickly pulled every single bit of data that he could, including the source of the signal. Finding it in Nebula G34, he stormed out of Qwark's room. Racing out of the Hall of Heroes, he shot up into the sky as fast as he could, heading to Nebula G34, praying that he'd make it there in time.

Meanwhile Ratchet was running for his life. However, because the ship was shaking so heavily, he stumbled several times. "Come on!" he yelled when he charged into one of the two hallways, only to see the door slam shut in front of him. Turning back, he charged through the other hallway. Diving into the shuttle, he threw Clank off his back. "Get us out of here!"

"I am trying! This will take time, Ratchet! Or do you want the entire station to know of our presence?"

"There's a bloody warship blowing up next to the station! I think our cover's as good as blown, and if you don't hurry, we'll be blown as well! Into tiny bits!"

Clank nodded, and fried the system. "Critical failure! Deploying manual steering apparatus!" a robotic voice blared as a steering wheel deployed.

Ratchet wasted no time in getting out of there. He didn't turn to the station, he just flew off as far and as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, Clank watched the ship through the windows in the back. The ship exploded violently, sending a shock wave in all directions, including theirs.

"Ratchet, fly behind the station!" Clank yelled, and luckily, Ratchet reacted immediately, flying behind an asteroid just in time.

The asteroid took the blow, and when they flew back to the station a few minutes later, there were several new impact craters on the asteroid, made by debris shot out by the explosion.

After docking at the station again, Ratchet collapsed, panting. "That was too close."

"Agreed, but we should get going, we need to destroy Drek's project before they can move it elsewhere."

Ratchet got back up after a minute and, after Clank had attached himself to Ratchet's back, the Lombax walked over to the only tunnel they hadn't entered yet. However, it was now closed off by a forcefield. "Huh." Ratchet said. "Why deploy a forcefield here? Do they know we're here or something?"

"No." Clank said, having hacked into the system. "This forcefield is not meant to keep us out, it is meant to keep something inside. Judging by how it is set to vaporize anything passing through it, I have a rising suspicion that something is very wrong up ahead. I also cannot disable the forcefield, it has to be done manually. Look for a Trespasser terminal."

"A Trespasser terminal?"

Clank pulled a reddish gadget out of his chest compartment. "This is something that Elaris has supplied me with, if there is anything that cannot be hacked, this should provide a way in."

"And you didn't give it to me earlier?"

"I had forgotten about it."

"Oh. Well, I found a terminal over here, hand it over and we'll see what it can do."

Clank gave Ratchet the trespasser. Ratchet took a good look at the device. It had three plates at the front, somewhat resembling a key. At the back was a screen.

Pushing the trespasser into the slot, the screen at the back of the gadget flashed to life. Ratchet saw three rings, containing lasers and mirrors, and red blocks outside the rings.

Clank gave him instructions. "Ratchet, you need to turn these three rings in such a way that every red block gets hit directly by one of those laser beams. All laser beams do not have to be used. Thus the problem is rotating the rings in such a way that they do not block lasers in other rings."

"Got it." Ratchet said. This lock was quite easy, he had it open in under a minute.

Walking into the gloomy hallways, Ratchet couldn't help but grow more nervous by the minute. It was too quiet.

"Ratchet, I am detecting movement above you." Clank said, only making the Lombax even more nervous. A shiver went through Ratchet's spine as he heard a slimy sound above him. Instinctively he jumped back, and just in time too. Hundreds of slimy, four-legged creatures with unnervingly sharp teeth came crawling out of the vents above him.

The closest ones attempted to bite Ratchet, but Ratchet quickly hit them with his OmniWrench. To his surprise, the ugly and hostile creatures were also very fragile, a single hit proved to be enough.

Equipping the Pyrocitor, Ratchet quite literally burned his way through the enemies. Though the hallway was filled with a foul smell, the flames proved to be very effective, and soon enough, the path was clear.

Ratchet came to a crossing. Up ahead was a closed door, though he could unlock it with a trespasser, and to his left was a door leading into some kind of launch bay.

Ratchet decided to hack the door open first, and soon enough, he stepped inside.

"Alright, Ratchet, I'll be with you every step of the way, and – oh, come on, he was out of bounds! Open your eyes, ref!" Qwark said through the communications, making Ratchet raise a brow. He decided to worry about it later.

The room up ahead was filled with stacks of crates, as well as a holocard with a strange symbol on it. Ratchet picked up the holocard and handed it to Clank, who stored it in the compartment in his torso.

Then, however, Ratchet heard an unnerving growl. With uppermost caution, Ratchet broke open one of the crates.

Two orange eyes glared at him from within the crate, and half a second later one of those slimy creatures jumped at him. Luckily for Ratchet's face, he blocked the attack with his OmniWrench, and the creature chomped down on metal instead, which broke it's teeth.

It let out a pained cry, and immediately a majority of the crates burst open. Soon enough, a small army had formed.

Ratchet had a plan, however. He began to run back, only to turn around all of a sudden, Pyrocitor already spewing fire.

The attack was devastating, and shortly after, it was quiet again, save for soft mechanical whirring coming from Clank.

After collecting the bolts in the crates that had not been full of enemies, the duo walked into the launch bay. However, Ratchet immediately noticed that it was being pumped full of a most foul smelling gas, it was making his lungs burn. Ratchet took a few steps out of the room, took a deep breath, and ran into the launch bay.

He quickly climbed up a few stairs, followed by swinging past a half-finished rocket.

Landing into another hallway, Ratchet noticed a Blarg hazmat trooper up ahead. He ran on, lungs burning, and threw a bomb at the unsuspecting enemy.

Ratchet couldn't hold his breath much longer, and gasped for air. Fortunately for him, the air was clean here.

After taking a few more deep breaths, Ratchet walked on, into a small, circular room.

He saw another door locked down by a forcefield, as well as two glass canisters.

What was inside the canisters made him take a step back. Inside the canisters were some kind of alien creatures. Both creatures stood on four small, insect-like legs. One of them was brown and had a scaled armor. It had a long neck and a maw full of sharp teeth.

The other alien was greenish-blue, with one eye. Instead of sharp teeth, however, it was exhaling green, sizzling smoke.

"Ratchet, I am afraid that the only way to get past this forcefield is cutting the power to this room by pressing the two green buttons on those canisters. However, this will also allow the creatures to break free."

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't." Ratchet said with a sigh. "I'm really going to regret this." he mumbled as he pressed the two buttons.

As Clank predicted, the creatures broke free, though Ratchet was waiting with a Pyrocitor.

However, unlike the smaller creatures, these larger aliens proved to be much more resilient, the flames did next to nothing. "Ratchet, the armor of that brown creature is very strong, there is not enough time to bring it down before it pushes us back into the poisonous area we just ran from. I suggest throwing a bomb at the right time, if what I am reading is correct, the creatures are very eager to eat, if you are close enough they may not be able to tell the difference between a bomb and food in time."

"Good thinking, pal." Ratchet said, equipping his Fusion Grenade. When the brown alien got closer, it attempted to bite Ratchet. However, following Clank's plan, Ratchet threw a bomb at the creature's maw.

Clank's prediction came true, and the creature exploded. "Dis-gusting." Ratchet said, jumping aside to avoid getting covered in what was left of the creature. The green alien, however, was much less armored, and thus a few good hits of the OmniWrench was enough to bring it down.

"We better hurry." Ratchet said over his shoulder, at the robot on his back. "If these guys are bio-engineering creatures, who knows what kind of messed-up life form they'll cook up next."

"Agreed, we must hurry before the Blarg can use this knowledge to it's full potential. However, there is something that bothers me. Have you noticed that the Blarg in this facility seem to be wearing special equipment designed for toxic environments? Do you remember how we were ambushed by those strange creatures earlier, or do you remember the forcefields and the toxic room? Everything we have seen so far is hinting at the possibility that the test subjects have escaped."

"So you're saying that whatever messed up stuff they made is likely running around free?"

"That is my theory. Either way, we should be very cautious."

"Gotcha, pal." Ratchet said, walking out of the room, though a small tunnel, and into a hollowed-out asteroid. "Captain, come in." Ratchet said as he climbed up to a higher level of the facility. "It looks like Drek's been experimenting on creatures."

"Heh! It takes more than a few little bugs to defeat-wait, are there spiders? Oh, now I'll _never_ get comfortable in this bed-erm, mission control room, where I'm monitoring you from. Either way, you've got this, Ratchet. I'm counting on you!"

"Copy that, Captain." Ratchet replied.

Suddenly, the door up ahead slammed open and a Blarg in protective gear came running out. "The test subjects have escaped! Every Blarg for him or herself!"

Then he noticed Ratchet. "A Galactic Ranger! Let's kill him!"

"I really don't have time for this." Ratchet mumbled, jumping over the energy pulses the Blarg's weapon sent his way. When he got closer, the Blarg swung his weapon in an attempt to hit Ratchet. Ratchet was just a tiny bit too slow, and ended up taking a hit to the side of his face. He retaliated immediately however, and his wrench did way more damage, knocking the Blarg out in just a single hit.

Upon approaching the door on the far side of the room, it slid open automatically, revealing a large, circular room. Two rows of cages were built into the walls, with the bottom row built into a walkway that gave access to the top row. The room was also swarming with four-legged creatures, with two of the larger, green creatures standing on the second floor.

Ratchet got to work before they could overwhelm him, grabbing the Pyrocitor and burning a way through the enemies. Sweeping the flames across the ground, he managed to get rid of the weaker creatures swarming the floor pretty quickly.

"Look out!" Clank suddenly said, noticing one of the green creatures on the upper tier open it's maw and spit a blast of green stuff. Ratchet jumped back just in time, the Lombax' eyes widened as it shot past inches away from his eyes. "Whoa, that was close! Thanks, pal!"

"Anytime." Clank said, staring at the splatters of the green goo. Analyzing the spectrum revealed a high concentration of protons, indicating that it was acidic. "Ratchet, that green stuff is highly acidic, avoid any skin contact at all costs."

"Got it." Ratchet said, jumping to the right to avoid another blast courtesy of the other green creature. Ratchet got rid of the last swarmers before they could overwhelm him before taking the fire to the two creatures on the upper tier. After gunning down one of them with his Combustor, he turned to face the other only to jump aside just in time. "That was close!" Ratchet said, getting up after narrowly dodging another acid blast.

He fired some more rounds at the green alien before his Combustor made a terrible sound.

'CLICK!'

"Oh, snap!" Ratchet yelled. "I'm out of ammo!"

"Ratchet, keep your distance. From what I've been able to gather from the mainframe so far, I can safely conclude that these creatures will seize any opportunity you give them. Their reaction time is also stunning."

"Great." Ratchet said, throwing his Combustor in the creature's face as a last resort. "But I've got no other options."

"Be careful." Clank warned as Ratchet switched to his OmniWrench and closed the distance between him and his foe.

True to Clank's prediction, the alien's head snapped forward, but Ratchet raised his wrench defensively and blocked the attack, before countering with an overhead strike.

The alien had lost, however, it had one last resort, and thus, when Ratchet brought his wrench down a second time to finish it off, it exploded, sending a wave of acid his way. Ratchet quickly shielded his face, but couldn't prevent a few droplets from landing on his ears.

"Ah! It burns! What do I do?!"

"Find water! According to the map I've found of the station, there should be a... water cooler for Drek Industries Premium Members nearby?"

Ratchet didn't care, soon enough he found the water cooler... and accidentally broke off a handle in his haste. Ratchet decided to just smack his wrench against it, and was rewarded with a blast of water in the face. Clank couldn't suppress a giggle as Ratchet comically held his hands in front of his face to block the stream but to no avail. Afterwards he was soaked.

"Great." he growled, ears lowering in annoyance.

"We must press on." Clank reminded him. "We must find what Drek is up to."

"Yeah, yeah... I just wished these suits were waterproof." Ratchet said as he walked on, the wet rubber under his shoes squeaking as he walked.

Apparently Ratchet had damaged something else with the blast of water from the water cooler, as the forcefield blocking off the next room was now gone.

Walking into the next room, Ratchet saw that the room had a huge, cylindrical power core in the center, with four maintenance platforms around it. Unfortunately, the only other way out was behind a forcefield to the right of him, and hitting the button on the power core up ahead deactivated the forcefield to the left.

Thus, Ratchet and Clank were forced to get through the room clockwise rather than counterclockwise. The next platform had three more of those green aliens on it, which were easily dealt with using Fusion Grenades and some precise timing, up to two times Ratchet managed to throw a bomb into one of the creature's gaping maws as they were about to fire another blast of acid.

With no armor protecting them on the inside, the explosions were devastating, and Ratchet could move on in under two minutes.

Opening up the path to the next platform, Ratchet had to combat a Blargian soldier. About a minute later, they could move on to the next platform, which only had four of the green, four-legged creatures, ergo Pyrocitor food.

The final platform that lead to a locked door, however, was protected by two of the brown creatures.

Ratchet blew one apart and heavily wounded the other before running out of ammo, thus he delivered the finishing blow using his OmniWrench.

After restocking on ammo at a nearby, conveniently placed Gadgetron Vendor, Ratchet equipped the Trespasser and started to mess with the lock that was keeping the door from opening.

After three minutes the door was finally open, and Ratchet and Clank cautiously walked inside.

They found themselves inside another hollowed-out asteroid, although the floor had panels of metal here and there supporting the structure. There seemed to be an observation deck on the far side of the huge room.

What caught Ratchet's interest however, was the lava surrounding the room.

But then a voice spoke. "Attention intruder!"

The voice sounded slightly electronic, it was shouted through an intercom system. "You have entered the testing facility for a Blargian Snagglebeast!"

Ratchet spotted the speaker, a Blargian scientist, in the observation area up ahead. What caught his interest more, however, was the huge creature dropping down from above up ahead. At least five times Ratchet's size the Snagglebeast was already intimidating enough, and the titanium plating and bulging muscles only added to it.

"Chairman Alonzo Drek thanks you for your sacrifice!" The Blarg shouted through the intercom before giving his colleague a fist bump.

Ratchet and Clank backed off slowly as the creature approached him. "Ratchet, inform Captain Qwark!" Clank said immediately.

Ratchet pressed his right index finger against the com-unit on the right side of his helmet. "Umm... Captain? Did you know Drek's secret project was a 'Blargian Snagglebeast'?"

Qwark gasped. "It is?! I wonder why it wasn't in any of my intel! I was expecting something much less lethal!"

The snagglebeast had reached the two heroes. Clank closed his eyes and Ratchet covered his face, both expecting an attack, one that never came. Ratchet lowered his hands and both heroes opened their eyes, only to see that the Snagglebeast had disappeared. Judging by how the Blarg in the observation area were laughing though, the danger wasn't gone at all.

Thus, Ratchet and Clank frantically looked around them. Qwark spoke through the communications one last time. "Errrrrrrr... don't worry. Just relax, and remember what I taught you!"

"What did you teach me?!" Ratchet replied. No answer. "Captain?!"

Suddenly, Ratchet and Clank felt and heard a loud smack behind them. They both knew what it was.

They slowly turned around, coming face-to-face with the Snagglebeast. The creature drummed on his chest with it's arms before letting out an ear-shattering roar at point-blank range, purposefully spitting some saliva at the two heroes to further underline what was about to happen.

Ratchet and Clank glanced at each other, then at the towering mass of muscle in front of them. "Oh, boy." Ratchet yelped, grabbing Clank and running for his life as the Snagglebeast attacked.

* * *

 **Cue MEGALOVANIA. If you don't know what that is, it's a song, look it up and you'll find it immediately, and oh boy is it epic!**

 **Anyhow, the next chapter will be uploaded next week, per usual again. I hope to see you all then!**


	8. Heatwave

**Alright, I'm back! Again, not much when it comes to the amount of words I've written these past few weeks, I really should put more time and effort into this.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Max Chronicle:** **" _Sweet music man, (still haven't played Undertale though)_**  
 _ **Anyway, some high leveled buttkicking is on the way. BRING IT SNAGGLEBEAST! I"M GOING TO SEND MY SWAMP FLIES ON YOU!**_  
 _ **This is going to get shiz very quickly and I hope Hypernova is on the uh... and there goes the song. (Clicks repeat) :) Go get 'em guys!**_  
 ** _Max out._ "  
You haven't? Ooh, shame! It's only ten dollars, can be run with stone-age hardware and I can guarantee you'll enjoy it.  
Yeah, that scene from GC. Good memories, good memories.  
You'll see soon enough how this scene plays out! Enjoy!**

 **rst64tlc: "** ** _Megalovania, I love that song! Can't wait for Hyper gets is hands on Qwark._ "  
I love it too, it's one of my favorites! Anyhow, I hope you'll enjoy this way overdue chapter!**

* * *

Ratchet quickly shot forward using Clank's Heli-Pack to avoid a swing of the Snagglebeast's arm that had the purpose of knocking the two heroes into the lava surrounding the area. Ratchet had been running for his life for several minutes now, not having had the chance to counterattack.

Whilst running, Ratchet tried to grab his Combustor, only to realize in shock horror that his suit had stopped functioning. He was defenseless.

"Clank! I got no weapons!"

Clank frowned and stared at the Snagglebeast. The apparatus on the creature's head had been puzzling him. "Ratchet, I believe the Blarg are in control of the Snagglebeast, at least to some extent. They seem to be controlling him using that apparatus on the creature's head."

"Very interesting, pal. But, uh... do you also have something that could save our lives right now?" Ratchet said as he rolled under another swing of the Snagglebeast's arms.

"No, I do not. However, judging by the faces of the observing Blarg, how you are spotlessly dodging their prized experiment seems to frustrate them greatly. Keep dodging, and they might do something reckless."

"Got it." Ratchet said, panting. And true to Clank's word, after five minutes one of the Blarg got bored. "Initiating ground pound protocol."

The Snagglebeast's eyes lit up, and it began to slam his hands into the ground.

"What's it trying to accomplish?" Ratchet wondered out loud."

"Run!" Clank yelled, and Ratchet ran just in time. "The Snagglebeast is somehow using seismic shock waves to break the ground below you, causing lava to spray out."

"Oh, that's bloody great!" Ratchet said. "Now this bastard's got range too!"

"Initiating fire sweep protocol." One of the Blarg scientists said, clearly bored, before uploading even more data to the Snagglebeast's head. And suddenly, the Snagglebeast opened it's maw and spat a stream of fire. "What?! No way that's natural!" Ratchet yelled as he jumped over the fire.

"Indeed." Clank said. "This specimen seems to have been equipped with cybernetic enhancements."

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

"Ratchet, there is one flaw about Snagglebeasts, they are not very smart. If the Blarg upload too much data, it will overload it's brain."

Ratchet's eyes lit up. "That sounds like a plan."

He managed to dodge for five more minutes. "Argh, I'm tired of this!" One of the Blarg scientists said. Apparently they were so bored that they had forgotten to turn off the intercom. "Initiating charge attack."

The Snagglebeast suddenly sprinted forward, and Ratchet rolled out of the way just in time. However, the Snagglebeast's flaw made it's presence known as the beast charged right into the molten rock.

It let out a terrible screech as it jumped out immediately and clung to the girders supporting the roof.

"What?! That thing can fall into lava and just shrug it off?!" Ratchet cried out.

"We've lost control of the subject!" One of the Blarg cried out. As the Snagglebeast was in panic however, those small, green, four-legged alien creatures came swarming in. Ratchet grabbed his OmniWrench with both hands, and with wild swings he managed to keep the enemies at bay.

The Snagglebeast dropped down from the ceiling again. "Subject back under control. Keep an eye on those readings, Jim." one of the Blarg said to his colleague.

Another tedious game of dodging followed as the Snagglebeast squashed and burned the few remaining aliens in a fit of rage before going after the much more mobile target.

Ratchet rolled under a few swings before throwing his wrench at the Snagglebeast's face and catching it again.

The wrench scored a hit in the eye. Blinded, the creature began to swing it's arms around, while walking forward. Ratchet ran to the lava. "Hey smelly big doofus!" he yelled. "Over here!"

The Snagglebeast, as Ratchet had hoped, charged right at him, and in it's stupidity it had forgotten about the lava, charging right into it.

"Subject appears to have a fondness for falling into lava." one of the Blarg noted. "Jim, let's boost the neurotransmitters and see if we can add some IQ-points to this dim-wit."

As the Snagglebeast swung around the room in panic, more aliens flooded the area, including those brown, armored ones with very sharp teeth.

"Ratchet, you should not try to engage those aliens up close. You need range for this."

"Trust me, pal, I know." Ratchet said, jumping back as a nearby alien bit at him.

"Initiating cranial implant!"

Suddenly, a huge arm moved across the battlefield, sweeping everything into the lava. If it wasn't for Clank quickly engaging his Heli-Pack to boost Ratchet over the arm sent his way, they would've fallen into the lava as well.

Ratchet attempted to start dodging again, but the Snagglebeast definitely got smarter. It caught Ratchet in it's right hand and began to crush the Lombax.

Ratchet was struggling to breathe as the Snagglebeast held him above the lava. Ratchet could hear it bubble in anticipation.

Then the Snagglebeast opened his hand, and Ratchet fell with a loud yell.

Hypernova blasted through a glass window of the station at a high speed, slamming into the reactor core in the center of the room. Getting back up, he scanned the area for signs of Ratchet.

He noticed a few hairs lying on the platform. Picking them up, a quick DNA-analysis proved it to be Lombax DNA.

Turning around while activating bio-scanners, he noticed a few more hairs near a closed door. There were noises coming from within.

Hypernova blasted the door open and charged in. The air leak he made upon entering the station forced a local lockdown, thus a blast door slammed shut behind him nearly instantly.

Time froze as he saw Ratchet fall. Summoning all of his power, he charged forward, catching the Lombax in mid-air. Bouncing off the wall, he landed in the center of the room.

He let go of Ratchet before turning to the Snagglebeast towering over him. The Snagglebeast attempted to crush him. Two swords of energy formed in Hypernova's hands. Simply raising his arms, the sharp points quickly made the Snagglebeast reconsider.

"Ratchet, why aren't you unloading all of those weapons of yours on this guy already?" he yelled over his shoulder.

"My suit stopped working, and that includes the quick-select function."

Hypernova frowned under his helmet. "Strange." he mumbled as he created a shield to block a punch from the Snagglebeast.

Hypernova raised his left hand, and the lava suddenly shot up before it started to spin, turning the outer wall of the small arena into a fiery vortex.

The Snagglebeast attempted to throw another punch, and Hypernova dropped his shield. He simply stepped aside before creating a chain of energy around the creature's wrist.

"He's all yours." he yelled as he threw the Snagglebeast over his shoulder, slamming it into the ground in front of Ratchet. Said Lombax immediately began to hammer on the Snagglebeat's skull with his wrench.

"What now?" Ratchet yelled back as the Snagglebeast recovered.

"This is your fight." Hypernova said as he flew into the air before spreading his arms. A cyan-colored aura formed around him, before it began to swirl towards Ratchet. The second it touched the Lombax, Ratchet began to glow.

Ratchet felt his strength increase tenfold, he could focus extremely well, he could move much faster, and...

The Snagglebeast got closer, but was rewarded with a blast of energy in the face. Ratchet could control the cyan aura around him and force it into any desired shape.

And he was going to use that ability. Ratchet ran forward as he tightly grabbed his wrench with both hands.

The Snagglebeast punched him in the face, but Ratchet didn't even flinch. He didn't even feel it at all.

He responded by jumping into the air and releasing blow after blow with his OmniWrench until the Snagglebeast was too dazed to even register what was going on.

"Now!" Hypernova yelled, stopping the stream of aura and taking position next to Ratchet. "Let's finish this!"

They pointed the palms of their hands at the confused Snagglebeast before unleashing a blast of energy, Ratchet releasing any leftover aura while Hypernova used his dwindling energy reserves.

The energy output was so strong that the Snagglebeast got launched through the fiery vortex (the vortex vanished a second afterwards, the lava falling to the ground) into the observation area, and one of the Blarg scientists was shot through the window and landed ungracefully before the three heroes.

"I yield! I yield! Please, don't hurt me!" the Blarg yelled.

"Tell us what you know..." Ratchet said, panting. "Tell is what you..."

He took a few breaths. Clank stepped forward. "Tell us what you know about Drek's plans."

"I-I have this infobot!" the Blarg scientist stammered, dropping said robot.

"You watch this one, pal." Ratchet said. "I'm just gonna take five."

"I'm coming with you." Hypernova said. "I have just below 1% worth of energy left, if I do much more before recharging I'll fall like a brick."

While the two heroes walked out of the arena, Clank focused on the infobot as the Blarg scientist got the hell out of there.

The screen flashed to life, showing a green, slender, alien figure with an oversized, hairless head and two large ears. "Greetings, Blarg imbeciles!" the alien said with his high-pitched, scratchy voice. "If you're watching this infobot, it means you have been selected for the beta-trial of my latest invention. THE XK-81 JETPACK!" the alien shouted

"It had some issues at first, but I'm happy to announce that I have finally worked out all of the kinks! Now you can use it to traverse the skies, giving you an advantage over those _morons_ on the ground! Come pick up yours at our base on Gaspar."

Clank walked out of the arena, regrouping with Ratchet and Hypernova. Both heroes were sitting on a stack of crates. "Hey, pal. What did you find?" Ratchet asked upon seeing the robot walk in.

Clank told them what he had seen.

"A jetpack?!" Ratchet cried out. "That's amazing!"

"A base on Gaspar..." Hypernova said, lost in thought. "That can't be good."

"What?" Ratchet asked.

"Gaspar is a volcanic planet. Over half of the surface is molten rock. It's like sticking your head inside an oven. No, without proper gear you'd dehydrate in a matter of minutes."

Then Hypernova noticed something. "Ratchet, why are you sweating?"

"Because it was bloody hot in there and I had to run?"

"You could feel the heat?"

"Yeah, the suit's functions were down, remember?"

"Yes, but the material that the suit is made of was specifically designed to reflect heat from the wearer despite a lack of power. Add to that, the Protosuit I designed would never shut itself down all of a sudden."

"You designed?" Ratchet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I designed it for you together with Elaris. Speaking of your suit, could you show me your arm for a moment?"

Ratchet did as he was told. Hypernova took a good look at the plating. The light reflected by the surface of the armor only further supported his theory.

He slowly grabbed some of the plating, and pulled it off with ease. "This isn't double-layered titanium with an extra Raritanium alloy, and whatever _that_ is, it sure as hell isn't Troglosaur skin! This is _plastic_! This suit has absolutely zero damage reduction!"

"Oh." Ratchet said, ears lowering a little. "So that's why stuff still hurt that much."

Hypernova let out a growl and slammed his fist into the wall. "Damn it!"

"Hey, calm down!"

Hypernova sighed, and nodded. "Gotcha. I'll make a new protosuit for you, with my own hands this time. No way I'm gonna draw another blueprint only for the result to be ruined again. Judging by where we'll likely be heading soon, I might as well add some heat-reduction features."

As they stepped into a small shuttle, Clank hacked into the system to steer it to the hangar where their ship was currently parked, while Hypernova leaned against the wall. Ratchet, on the other hand, was trying to get in touch with Qwark. Finally the signal came through. "Captain, it's Ratchet. We've defeated the Snagglebeast."

"You did?! But that's im... pressive."

"We've also learned that the Blarg have a secret testing facility on planet Gaspar. Apparently they have been working on jetpacks."

Qwark gasped immediately. "I've always wanted one of those! If you can get one, Elaris can build a few more for the Rangers! I hereby assign you the, not-at-all-deadly mission of acquiring one jetpack! Captain Qwark must fly like a bird!"

"Got it." Ratchet said.

"The captain wants us to acquire a jetpack on Gaspar." Ratchet informed the others. "One is enough, Elaris can build a few more."

Hypernova hummed in thought. "But how are you going to use a jetpack? Yes, you have a hex-mount on your back, but that one was designed for Clank."

"Good point." Ratchet said. "Maybe Elaris can alter the design a little to turn it into an upgrade for Clank."

"Ooh!" Clank said. "That certainly sounds useful!"

"Well, off to Gaspar it is then. Give me one moment though." Hypernova said as they arrived back at the hangar. He walked into the airlock Clank had used earlier, and Ratchet and Clank watched him fly off from the hangar's large windows. He flew right at the nearest star.

"What is he doing?!" Ratchet wondered out loud.

"I do not know." Clank said. "I see no reason for approaching a star."

A few minutes later Hypernova returned. "Whew, that was refreshing." he said as he stepped out of the airlock.

"Refreshing?" Ratchet repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"This suit is light-charged. During our little trip to the hangar I had regained just enough energy to cover the distance to the nearest star, where I was able to use the intense light to recharge my suit to some extent. It's not fully charged, but it should be enough to do _this_."

Hypernova suddenly fired a beam of cyan-colored energy at Ratchet, and the Lombax found himself unable to move. When the light faded, he saw that he was wearing a new kind of armor.

It looked nearly identical to the suit he had been wearing, but instead of orange-blue it was silver, and reflective. And also a lot more heavy.

Hypernova hummed in thought. "I wonder, during your training back on Kerwan... then now, with your old suit shutting down all of a sudden... something was definitely very, very wrong with that Protosuit. I was already wondering why your aim had become this off all of a sudden, I saw you fight and you were fine. I supposed that it was a result of you having to get used to the suit's supporting functions, but I'm starting to have a rising suspicion that something else is going on here."

"What do you think?" Ratchet asked.

"I won't say until I have more evidence. For now, let's head to Gaspar. We've got a long trip ahead and Gaspar is a burning hellhole so we might as well get this over with as soon as possible. However, the instant we acquire a jetpack, we're going back to Kerwan to hand it over to Elaris, and I'll finally be able to teach you some tricks."

"Souds okay to me." Ratchet said.

"Alright then. There's one thing though, I'm all out of power, and I'm gonna need a lot of time to recharge fully. Can I hitch a ride?"

"How? There aren't enough seats!"

"I'll hold on to the wing."

"Are you _insane_?!"

"Relax, no matter what happens, I'll find you within an hour. Assuming that I even lose my grip, trust me, you won't be getting me off your wing that easily."

"Well..." Ratchet said. "I don't see any other way myself, besides, you came up with the idea of riding on the wing, but the more help we can get, the better, right Clank?"

The small robot nodded. "We could definitely use the assistance. Who knows what the Blarg have set up in advance. For all we know they could already be expecting us."

"Then it'd be rude to keep them waiting, right?" Hypernova said as he climbed onto the ship's right wing.

Ratchet and Clank climbed into the cockpit, and they flew off. Ratchet had no idea where he was going, but if what Hypernova said and what Clank had found on the holonet during the flight were true, then they would be in for a really bad time – boiling temperarures, meteors raining from above, radiation, the Blarg of course, and any hostile wildlife that could be present.

" _Well..._ " he thought. " _At least this time I've got some help._ "

* * *

 **Alright, let's hope chapter 9 will be up sooner. Happy 2017 to everyone by the way!**

 **Also, if you're enjoying the story so far, please consider leaving a review below. It may not seem like much but they mean a lot to me, and they help keep me motivated.**

 **Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and (hopefully) see you in the next one!**


	9. Fire

**Whoo, look who's back! No, the game responsible for my absence isn't Overwatch, I haven't been playing that game that often due to the sheer percentage of idiots among the players. If I'd get a dollar for every time I'd either get placed in a match that is already set (ergo, the enemy team winning literally three seconds later) or get placed in a match full of people who literally can't find the trigger of their weapon and don't even know the word 'team composition', I could straight up hire someone to write this story out for me.**

 **No, the game that has managed to catch and hold my interest is Subnautica. It's still in early access, but I love the concept and art style of the game. The only thing is, due to it being in early access there are still many bugs, and the amount of bug reports I've sent is well in the double digits, but the team behind this game actually has coding skills (cough cough little big planet 3 cough cough) and works at an astonishing rate, therefore I have faith that this game will end up great.**

 **But, salt over Blizzard's terrible matchmaking and love for Subnautica's beautiful yet scary as living heck art style aside, I think you're all here to see the story continue. Therefore, I'll reply to the reviews before letting you all read on.**

* * *

 **rst64tlc: "** ** _Hyper is getting closer to the truth, Qwark is going to have a real bad time. and I hate that planet. Stupid Brain squids hunting quest. Great chapter._ "  
Well... we'll see how that ends up. Trust me when I say you'll be surprised... And I'm personally cool with the Telepathopus hunting sidequest, at least it's an excuse for Insomniac to pull another 'massive level'. A fetch quest does get rather repetitive after a while though. Thank you once again, and I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations, especially when it comes to what I did about the whole hunting side quest.**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _I like how you take facts that are harmless (or are meant as jokes) in the story and make mountains out of them. I find it entertaining. But beside that, great chapter. Glad to see Hypernova finally joining in on the butt whooping.  
Count on me rearing my comments again on the next chapter but until then,  
Max out.  
P.S. Good memories indeed.  
P.P.S. I'll look into acquiring Undertale. I've heard many a good thing but... reasons._"  
Well, if the original plot gives me something that I can expand on, then why not? As long as it's done right though and doesn't get annoying. Thank you once again, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!  
P.P.S. I can guarantee you'll enjoy it. The soundtrack is also very well done!  
**

* * *

As the Ranger aircraft entered Gaspar's orange atmosphere, Hypernova jumped off the wing, diving to the surface next to the blue Ranger vessel. As Hypernova slowed his descent, Ratchet initiated the landing sequences, bringing the ship to a complete stop on a landing pad near the Blarg facility. Hypernova landed on his feet and his left hand next to the ship, keeping his right hand ready for any attackers.

There was nobody in the immediate area, making Hypernova sigh in relief. Maybe they hadn't yet been noticed, but with the large satellite dishes positioned on top of the Blargian facility, the chances of that were slim.

He took a good look at their landing site as Ratchet and Clank climbed out of their spacecraft. They had landed on a small island close to the main facility, a small elevator could take them across and to ground level.

Behind Ratchet's ship, on top of a raised section of rocks, was a huge energy-dome, Hypernova wondered what it was for.

After Ratchet had restocked on ammunition at a nearby Gadgetron vendor, they entered stepped onto the elevator and let it take them down to ground level.

"Is your suit functioning properly this time?"

"Yep." Ratchet said. "Visor deployed correctly, everything's fine."

"How about the temperature?"

Ratchet shrugged. "I didn't notice any severe temperature changes. Thanks to my armor, probably, but still."

"It's liquid-cooled, so it should also protect you from radiation aside from keeping you cool. As long as you don't go jumping into lava, that is."

Ratchet shuddered.

Up ahead, they spotted a group of Blarg in exo-suits guarding the outside of the complex. There was an unused turret built on the ground in front of a small docks area, and the path to the right was sealed off by a blast door.

"Well, back into the storm we go." Hypernova said before throwing a stun grenade. Ratchet immediately got to work on shooting down the temporarily blinded Blarg.

"One more thing." Hypernova said after the Blarg had been dealt with. "The atmosphere here contains no oxygen, it'll fry you in a minute and lastly, the pressure is a side product of the temperature. Thus don't expect Clank's Heli-Pack to be of much use."

"Good to know." Ratchet said. He looked at the door. "Great. Why does _everything_ have to be made of dense alloy?"

"I will try not to be offended by that." Clank said.

"Oops, sorry Clank. I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about this door. I mean, every time something is in our way it's always so heavily armored."

Clank giggled. "No offense taken, but that turret may be of use to us."

Ratchet stepped into the cannon. "It's not working."

Hypernova sighed. "I've got nearly no energy, but..." he said as he charged up an orb of energy behind him, before using it to blast right through the door. "You know, I really got to keep an eye on my power levels right now, so please, keep an eye out, okay?"

"Got it." Ratchet said. He equipped the Combustor and offered it to Hypernova. "Here, so you can deal some damage without having to worry about those energy reserves."

Hypernova laughed before taking the weapon. "I don't think I'll be dealing much damage with this, but thanks anyway. Well, let's just get going."

They stepped through the doorframe and followed the path to the left, at what appeared to be the facility's main entrance.

The blast door going kaboom didn't go unnoticed however. "Ah, I see we have visitors!" a scratchy voice said through the intercom. "Is that that Dr. Nefarious guy you told us about?" Ratchet asked.

"The voice matches perfectly, therefore I would assume that that is indeed Dr. Nefarious." Clank replied.

"I hope you like my facility," Dr. Nefarious continued before suddenly raising his voice. "BECAUSE YOU'RE NEVER, EVER LEAVING!"

"Damn, he's at maximum salt capacity _already_!" Hypernova said, making Ratchet laugh.

That's when a few of Gaspar's native lifeforms decided to pay a visit. Three huge bird-like creatures swooped out of the alien trees, their sharp beaks already ready to take a bite out of their prey. Of course, with Ratchet's new armor covering his face, ears and tail, he was well protected. Clank was made out of metal of course, and so was Hypernova. The result was the three birds breaking their own beaks. "Shouldn't have done that." Hypernova said, shaking his head as the creatures flew off.

After jumping across a small stream of lava, the three heroes reached the facility's main entrance. Of course, Nefarious had shut the blast doors in preparation, and three warbots stood guard outside the facility. Up ahead the path lead away from the complex before arching back to the entrance before ending on a rock in the middle of the lava, though it had a clear shot at the entrance. That's why a group of Blarg were located there, one in control of a turret.

Hypernova created a defensive barrier. "Take down those warbots, quick!" he told Ratchet.

The Lombax wasted no time in dropping two Bouncer bombs, completely obliterating them. "Holy cow, this thing's powerful!"

"It is, isn't it?" Hypernova said as he dropped the shield, and the two heroes ran. "It's in fact so powerful that it's experimental, Gadgetron is currently testing if it's actually legal to create a weapon this powerful."

"Then why do they sell ammo and upgrades for it?"

"That was already integrated into the vendor system in preparation."

"But then how did you even get it?" Ratchet asked as they jumped across a few rocks in order to reach the turret.

"It's originally my design, it's just that Gadgetron bought it. But as of now, this weapon's really rare. Could be that you're the only one that has it, seeing as Gadgetron hasn't given any away yet and since you have the prototype, the first Bouncer ever made."

"Huh." Ratchet said. "Any other things that you built that I should know of?"

"Should know of? No." Hypernova said as he gave the turret a powerful shock, disabling the hardware temporarily.

"But things I invented or helped create that you could know of, then yes." he said as he punched the Blarg in the face, knocking him out. Ratchet took control of the turret and blew the door to smithereens.

"QUIT SHOOTING MY DOORS!" Nefarious screamed. "Those are custom made, you know?!"

Hypernova burst out laughing. "That only makes me more eager to shoot them."

They stepped through where the door used to be and took an elevator up into the facility. "Ratchet, how's your suit doing by the way?"

"It's doing great!" Ratchet replied. "Thermal protection works like a charm, I don't feel anything of the heat. Rebreather seems to work as intended as well, since the thin atmosphere hasn't had any impact yet."

Hypernova let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, that means you'll be alright underwater. You know, seeing you like that, lifelessly floating in the water with that look of pain on your face, that still gives me nightmares."

A shiver went down Ratchet's spine. They had no time to talk further though, as the elevator reached it's destination. The room they were in was circular, with various metal parts scattered about.

More unnerving was the sheer amount of enemies flooding the area. About one hundred small drones stormed at them. They closely resembled metal sandsharks.

"You take left, I take right?" Hypernova asked as Ratchet grabbed his wrench.

"Deal." he said before getting to work with his wrench. Strangely enough, these drones were just as vulnerable as their organic counterparts.

While Ratchet hammered on the drones with his wrench, Hypernova used his bare hands to save some energy. He punched a drone in the face before picking it up and throwing it at a bunch of other drones. He suddenly dropped to his hands while kicking his legs out behind him, sending three drones flying.

Despite all the effort they put into taking down the murderous machines, their numbers didn't decrease. "They keep coming!" Ratchet said, hammering on another drone.

"They just have a spawner somewhere." Hypernova said. Scanning the area, he noticed an innocent-looking machine hidden in the corner. As he watched, it spat out a metal ball that transformed into another sandshark-bot.

"Gotcha." he said as he jumped off the wall. As he approached the machine, however, three legs popped out of it and it tried to make a run for it.

"Oh hell you don't!" Hypernova yelled as he created a lasso of energy and pulled the machine back in before crushing it between his hands.

Meanwhile Ratchet was finally getting the upper hand, pushing the drones back far enough for him to equip the Pyrocitor and get to work.

About a minute later, the room was cleared.

"Nicely done!" Hypernova complimented as they walked out into the only hallway connecting the room.

They found themselves in a narrow, long room. Tanks were parked left and right, leaving a narrow path between them.

"Why are these imbeciles still alive?!" Nefarious spoke through the intercom. "Get out there and ANNIHILATE THEM BEFORE I LOSE MY PATIENCE!" he screamed.

"Too late." Hypernova said. Ratchet chuckled.

More enemies started to flood the part up ahead, using the tanks as cover. Hypernova laughed. "Ooh, just drop a Bouncer grenade and they're toast! You might as well try it out!"

"Okay." Ratchet said as he took cover behind a tank. He equipped the Bouncer and fired a bomb over the tank. A series of loud explosions followed. "You're gonna need more than that." Hypernova said, peeking around cover.

Ratchet responded by firing all five remaining bombs, and soon enough the path was filled with metal parts.

"Did that do it?" Ratchet asked.

Hypernova burst out laughing. "See for yourself, you wrecked them!"

Hypernova used some of his energy to clear the path before they moved on. They entered a circular room full of crates. A few Blarg were waiting for them, one of them in control of a turret mounted to the floor.

The Blarg immediately noticed them, and the turret sprang to life. Hypernova used some of his energy to raise a barrier in front of them that reflected the bullets, and sure enough the Blarg had been gunned down by their own fire. "Idiots." Hypernova said as he punched the only Blarg still standing, the Blarg in charge of the turret, out cold. Ratchet took control of the turret and destroyed another blast door.

"Easy peasy." Hypernova said as they walked out of the room, out onto a roof of the facility, where various defense turrets were located. "Uh-oh." Ratchet said when a drop ship swooped in and deployed a squad of Blarg that took control of the three turrets as well as a group of warbots guarding the skies.

A hook of energy formed in Hypernova's hands, and he pulled in one of the warbots while holding his fist out, punching the warbot's head off.

Immediately all hell broke loose. All turrets opened fire, the warbots began unloading rocket launchers and even the drop ship initiated an aerial assault.

Hypernova created a barrier in front of them while Ratchet fired his weapons at the warbots.

After they had been dealt with, Hypernova suddenly made the barrier vanish and gave Ratchet a forceful shove, pushing the Lombax behnd a crate just in time. Without having to keep a barrier up, he had both hands free, and Hypernova used the moment to send an electrical shock across the ground in front of him, temporarily disabling the turrets.

Ratchet immediately got back into action, taking on the drop ship while Hypernova cleared the turrets, before taking over one of them and flanking the drop ship.

They could hear a yell of pure rage coming from the speaker systems. "You _imbeciles_! How hard is it to stop _two_ Rangers?! At least what they're looking for isn't here anymore or we'd have lost valuable technology due to the sheer _incompetence_ of ALL OF YOU!"

Hypernova raised his hand and fired a blast of energy at the closest speaker, destroying it. "Stop screaming into my ears, you creepy green little gremlin." he mumbled.

"Well, looks like the jetpacks are gone, what now?"

"Ratchet do you really thing Nefarious would be able to move high-value technology without having to keep track of it somewhere? We must be able to find a data terminal somewhere where we can track down the location of the jetpacks. For now though... what is this?"

Up ahead was a platform with three glowing pads surrounding a small dome-shaped forcefield. Inside were two boots.

Clank got down from Ratchet's back, and they all stepped onto a red pad, the pad turning green in response.

When all pads had been turned green, the forcefield disappeared.

"What are these things?" Ratchet wondered out loud.

"They are grindboots." Hypernova said, inspecting their design. "They should allow you to grind on certain rails, such as grav-train tracks or power cables. For now though, I wonder what that is over there."

He pointed at a platform a few dozen feet away. It was built next to some kind of pipe leading upwards, they seemed to be able to enter from the top by walking on the electrified metal panels built on the sides of the pipe.

"Well, how do we get there?"

"I don't have enough energy left to fly us both there, but perhaps... I think I have an idea."

* * *

"I don't like this idea at all." Ratchet said, who was holding the Fusion Grenade.

"Trust me. I'll catch you, and the grenade won't hurt you because of your armor." Hypernova said, who had used his little energy to fly over to the platform.

Ratchet took a deep breath, then threw a grenade at his feet. Immediately he was sent flying by the blast like on Kerwan. However, he flew too far.

Ratchet screamed in fear as the lava got closer. Then, all of a sudden, something wrapped around his torso. Looking up, he saw that it was a wire of energy. Hypernova was standing on the platform above, trying his best to keep the cable together with his dwindling energy reserves.

"Pull yourself up!" he yelled, and Ratchet immediately got to work. Hypernova, in the meantime, began to pull the cable in, and soon enough Ratchet was back on his feet. "That was a close one, huh Clank? Clank?"

Clank didn't respond.

Hypernova shook his head. "You may be able to withstand such heat, but Clank doesn't tech that. He's probably shut down his systems to prevent overheating. Some circuits may have been fried, we should have a look at him later."

"We?"

"I'm excellent with hardware, and I thought you were a mechanic?"

"Yeah, that's true. We probably shouldn't check on this planet though, the air alone is forty degrees Celsius and that's only because it's so thin."

"Correct, would the atmosphere be thicker, it would be much closer to the lava's temperature here."

"Well..." Ratchet said, "Honestly, I can't wait 'till we're out of here, I'm starting to sweat and I can't wipe my forehead with this visor."

"Let's get to work then. Can you walk on this?" Hypernova asked, gesturing at the conductive metal ramp leading up against the tower.

"Yeah, Clank located a pair of Magne-Boots over a nebula G34. I'm not sure how old they are though, so I'm a little hesitant to try them out above a sea of molten rock."

"You'll be okay, I got your back. If you remain within arm's reach I'll grab you in a flash if those boots don't hold."

"Thanks." Ratchet said, taking the Magne-Boots out of Clank's chest compartment before noticing a problem. "Uuh... I can't wear these over my Ranger armor."

"And you'll end up with boiling feet if you swap boots. I got it." Hypernova said. "Hand me those boots real quick."

Ratchet handed the boots to Hypernova. "Thanks. Maybe I can..."

Hypernova began to tear the boots apart. "What are you _doing_?!" Ratchet cried out.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing. Sit down for a moment please."

Ratchet sat down, frowning. Hypernova lifted up one of Ratchet's feet before clicking something into place under the soles of Ratchet's boots.

"Wait, did you..."

"Take the magnetic soles and modify them so they can be attached to your boots? Yeah. Go ahead and try 'em out. With all of the infrared radiation here, I can fly up there, but I'll fly along with you for safety."

"Thanks." Ratchet said, walking up the ramp. "Whoa, this feels weird."

"Normally walking on walls with gravity constantly pulling on you would require a lot of power, but thanks to the same microthrusters that negate the extra weight on your arms so that you can aim better, you shouldn't feel gravity pulling you down anymore. It's not enough power to keep you in the air, but it's enough to at least take some of the load off your shoulders. And off Clank's as well, whenever he uses that Heli-Pack of his."

"Awesome!" Ratchet said, following the metal along the wall of the metal chimney before coming across a strange sight. A bolt was sticking out of the metal. "Hmm... I see smoke up ahead, coming out of this thing. Try turning the bolt and see what happens."

Ratchet equipped his OmniWrench Millennium 12 and began to walk around the bolt, using the wrench to turn it, and sure enough, the smoke vanished. Walking up and into the chimney, Ratchet saw that it had turned off a few burners embedded in the walls.

Reaching ground level, Hypernova landed next to Ratchet as they walked into a rocky tunnel. Some machines were scattered about, but they didn't interest the heroes at all. Their attention was drawn to a bunch of Blarg up ahead.

And the Blarg had noticed them too. "He's found out hideout!" one of the stunned Blarg yelled. "Kill 'em!"

"Don't forget that this is also a Raritanium mine!" Another Blarg yelled.

"Shut up, Ed!" a dozen of Blarg yelled in return.

Hypernova shook his head. "Fools."

He created a barrier in front of Ratchet as said Lombax unloaded his Combustor on them.

"Toasted." Hypernova said as the last enemy fell.

Walking into the tunnels, they sometimes had to jump across small streams of molten rock, Hypernova keeping a close eye on both of his companions and staying within arm's reach at all times.

As they finally reached the end of the cavern after having to fight the Blarg every step of the way, Hypernova noticed something. "Ratchet, look at this." he said after the last enemy had fallen. He walked over to a computer terminal built into the wall, the Lombax following him. "You see that blinking light?" he said, pointing at a small, blinking lightbulb embedded in the casing.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?"

"This computer system is very, very old. From before the Great W-erm, older than you even."

"The Great what?"

"Nothing. Point is, this machine is an old way of communicating. Because it's so old, the chances of someone intercepting these old signals is tiny, as modern day equipment no longer uses these frequencies. That light means that there is an unseen message."

Messing with the terminal, Hypernova managed to find a message. The contents weren't that important, it was about transferring Raritanium from Gaspar, but the coordinates provided caught their interest. Cross-referencing them with a Blarg planetary database accessed on a terminal to the right, Hypernova was able to find that the source of the message was a secret Blargian manufacturing facility.

"That must be where Nefarious is manufacturing these jetpacks." Ratchet thought out loud. "This place seems more like a warehouse than a factory, I doubt they're being made here. It's more likely that they are shipped here before sent further."

"Good thinking. I doubt there are any jetpacks left here as Neffy caught wind of our presence pretty soon, soon enough to either send them off or destroy them to prevent any jetpack lying around here from falling into enemy hands. But I am certain that he has no idea of us acquiring this information, regarding the manufacturing facility. And even if it has no relation to the jetpacks, let's see about shutting it down."

* * *

 **Alright, so the people who played the PS4 game that this story is based on may have noticed the absence of a rather eccentric and brain-addicted individual. To those of you who wonder what happened to him, trust me, we'll catch a glimpse of this unusual character later down the line.  
**

 **Regarding chapter 10, I have something big planned, and I'm excited to see how all of you are going to react to it.**

 **I hope to see you all then!**


	10. The Skies and Beyond

**Alright, I have returned! And with a whole mass of chapters, too! From now on I'll be updating this story every weekend, or at least I plan to.**

 **I'm very glad to see that the popularity of this story is increasing - this story has more views monthly than all of my other stories! I'm absolutely flattered!**

 **Alright, it's been long enough as is, let's get to the story, people!**

 **But first, allow me to reply to the reviews.**

 **rst64tlc: "** ** _The Great W-_ ...he knows... I will wait for the next chapter_ "  
Yes, but what does he know exactly?... And wait no more, the chapter's here!**

 **bajy: "** ** _I was definitely not expecting this at all  
I LOVE THIS STORY!  
its awesome!  
Doing great so far!  
everything in each of these chapters so far is totally sweet! Awesomely radical dude!  
what will happen next?  
looking forward to reading more soon!_**

 ** _P.s. I LOVE THE WEAPON DEMONSTRATIONS SCENE IN THE MOVIE! ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! XD XD XD XD XD_ "  
Hey, new reviewer! Thank you so much! And wait no longer, the chapter's here!  
P.S. I love that scene too! It's a shame it's not in the game, but then again, in the game Ratchet is already experienced with weaponry when he gets to that point so I had to improvise to get this scene out right yet still have it make sense.**

* * *

As they entered orbit, Hypernova and Ratchet noticed the large, bulky vessels hovering over the planet.

The color scheme and building style confirmed their suspicion without even having looked at the large emblem on the hull.

"There's no way a fleet that large can be up to any good. My guess is Drek's gonna attack another planet." Hypernova said.

"If they managed to wreak that much havoc with only one dreadship back in Aleero City, I don't wanna know what chaos an entire fleet can bring." Ratchet said, eyes focused on the planet up ahead.

"But someone else is gonna find out eventually unless we break these things ASAP. Ratchet, as soon as you land this thing I'm going back up to destroy that fleet. You go get a jetpack."

"Got it." Ratchet said as they entered the atmosphere. Thankfully, the class-J Star Jumper was equipped with a state-of-the-art Proton Barrier that protected the ship from the heat, allowing them to blast through the sky with several kilometers per second without risking the hull.

Finding no clear landing site, Ratchet decided to stop the ship whilst hovering over a large tree, one that he would recognize. And even if he would forget it his armor would point him in the right direction.

While Ratchet climbed down to the ground using the vines, Hypernova set sail for orbit of this distant, unknown world, glancing over his shoulder as he blasted out of the atmosphere and catching a last glimpse of the young Lombax as Ratchet disappeared in the mass of green far below.

"Be safe out there, young one." he mumbled as the atmosphere faded out of existence around him. Were it not for the fact that he wanted to save energy in case things went south on Ratchet's end, Hypernova would've flown much faster. Instead, he let physics guide him through the cosmos, already having planned a trajectory that would intersect with that of the orbiting fleet in roughly an hour.

Meanwhile Ratchet was running from branch to branch, avoiding the ground for as long as possible. Who knew what kinds of traps the Blarg had set up down there, or worse, what native creatures could be preying on him.

Using his Swingshot occasionally to traverse branch-less areas, Ratchet soon began to see the first signs of civilization.

Built between the trees was a huge complex. Steel tunnels connected the steel cabins built into the treetops and an elevator in the middle of the complex lead down to ground level.

However, unless you used a metal bridge, there was no way to reach the elevator without getting wet as there was marshland underneath.

"This place is a swamp." Ratchet muttered to himself. "Lord knows what they installed in there to keep intruders away."

Ratchet got his answer when he noticed a shimmering of grey under the surface of the water. Looking closer, he saw the skeletal remains of a native creature, barely holding together as it flowed in the water. Upon focusing even more, Ratchet noticed that one of the creature's legs had a harpoon in it. The poor creature must have thought of drinking the water, fell in by accident, mistaken for an intruder, and shot, and then drowned to death.

Immediately memories of Rilgar entered Ratchet's mind and a wave of fear hit him.

Taking a few breaths to suppress the nauseous feeling growing inside, Ratchet sat down and got up again when he felt better. As soon as he saw the skeleton again however, he felt sick again.

Then it hit him. He had a phobia of water.

But he had to move. Using his Swingshot, Ratchet climbed along the branches until finally reaching the top of the complex.

By prying an air vent open with his OmniWrench, Ratchet gained access to the facility.

Dropping out of the air vents, Ratchet found himself in a laboratory. It was deserted.

Sneaking through the complex, he found out that the upper tier of the facility consisted of laboratories only.

Not risking the elevators with their cameras, Ratchet pried open the doors of an elevator and climbed down the elevator shaft.

Hugging the wall to avoid the elevator as it moved past, Ratchet pried open another set of doors and jumped through with feline grace.

However, he was unaware of the pair of emerald eyes keeping a close eye on him. They had been since they had spotted Ratchet when he was about to enter the complex, and their owner had been on Ratchet's tail ever since.

Finding himself in the uppermost level of a large, underground warehouse, Ratchet sneaked along the catwalks, keeping a low profile to avoid the guardbots on patrol.

Meanwhile, Hypernova reached the fleet. Summoning his powers, he grabbed the largest ship and began to tear it in half.

Four minutes and a lot of determination later, the ship was in two pieces.

Hypernova did the same to a smaller mothership, but something was off.

" _Why is there nobody on these ships?_ " Hypernova thought. " _This fleet is ready to leave, but has no crew whatsoever..._ "

That's when he realized what was going on. "It's a setup!" he yelled. Activating his powers, he charged right back the way he came.

As Ratchet sneaked through the warehouse, all of a sudden, his ears were nearly blown off. "INTRUDER LOCATED!" the computer running the facility blared through speakers embedded in the walls.

Immediately hundreds of guardbots raised into view. They had been hiding everywhere in the facility.

It had been a trap.

Ratchet immediately got behind cover as gunfire rained down on where he had been standing mere seconds earlier. Making a run for it, he found that the elevator shafts had been blocked by the elevators themselves, and they refused to move.

Suddenly, an air vent came falling out of the roof behind Ratchet with a loud 'CLANG'. Turning around, Ratchet saw a fur-covered hand sticking out of the ceiling.

Without options, Ratchet took the hand and he was pulled up to the air vent, to the point where he could grab the edge and pull himself up.

Ratchet couldn't get a good sight of who had come to his aid as the stranger was already moving. He could vaguely make out their moving shape in the dark vent systems.

Following the stranger through the vents, intense light was suddenly blasted into his face as the stranger kicked out a panel in front of them.

When Ratchet's eyes had readjusted to the intense light, the stranger was gone. Crawling further, Ratchet flinched when he saw that the only way out was a drop into the water underneath the facility.

Seeing a shadow move in the murky water, he knew that whoever had saved him was down there, either waiting for him or in need of help.

Swallowing his fear, he shifted his weight and fell into the water.

Immediately fear took partial control of his mind as he kicked around in panic. Two hands grabbed his shoulders. Turning around, the stranger was hovering in the water in front of him. Ratchet couldn't make out any facial features save for the stranger's eyes, which were brilliant green and sparkling a bit in the few light managing to penetrate the muddy water.

The stranger pressed their left index finger against their lips, telling Ratchet to stay quiet.

Soon enough Ratchet could see a number of dark outlines through the water. The figures looked around, then went back inside. Immediately both Ratchet and the stranger went to get some fresh air, before Ratchet was pulled back underwater immediately.

The stranger swam off, Ratchet following. Soon enough they had reached the edge of the small lake. Ratchet could see the harpoon guns embedded in the ground, but to his surprise, none reacted to their presence in any way.

The stranger had a head start as they sprinted into the forest. Soon enough however, the stranger stopped.

Finally Ratchet could get a good look at them. And it shocked him.

"No way, a-a-are you-"

The stranger dove forward and pinned Ratchet against the ground. "Now you answer _my_ questions. Who are you, and what are you doing here?!"

"My name is Ratchet." he truthfully replied, "And I'm here on behalf of the Galactic Rangers."

The figure suddenly collapsed on top of Ratchet. "Oh, thank god."

From this close there was absolutely no doubt, though Ratchet still couldn't quite believe it. Here he was, meters from another Lombax.

A female member of his own species.

She had green eyes, green fur with no stripes, and shoulder-length green hair. Her clothing had the exact same tint of green. She quickly got up, grabbed Ratchet's arm, and pulled him into the forest.

Ten minutes later Hypernova landed where they had been. He picked up a golden hair left in the dirt, then stared at the trail of footprints leading into the forest. "Oh, hell no." he growled before storming into the forest.

* * *

The female Lombax quickly shoved Ratchet into a cavern before rolling a boulder before the exit. Before Ratchet could speak up she quickly grabbed a sharp rock and pressed it against his neck, driving him up against the wall. She carefully drilled the rock deeper and deeper into Ratchet's skin, the male Lombax barely daring to breathe, before a fine trail of blood began to seep out of the wound.

"No flickering..." she whispered. She immediately stepped back, leaving Ratchet to press a hand over his throat. "What was that about?"

"Just a hologuise check."

"A what?"

"Checking for an electronic hologram disguise." she clarified. "Wait here for a moment, I'll be right back." she said before leaving the cave, only to return ten minutes later with soaked fur.

Ratchet immediately noticed that it had changed color. Instead of green, her fur color was now sandy gold in color, and her hair and stripes were the same shade of brown. Her head was also soaked, likely having used water to wash the camouflage away.

Her apparel had also changed. She was wearing brown boots over olive-green pants, along with a green shirt and brown gloves. A red bandanna also hung around her neck.

"Who are you?" Ratchet asked, keeping his hands ready to pull out any weapon in the span of a second.

She sat down. "Please, keep your weapons away. There are already so very few of us."

"Few of us?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "Didn't you know?"

"I did notice."

"You don't know why?"

"No."

She sighed, her ears lowering a bit. "I wish I knew. Right now it's as if I was abandoned. I hope you don't feel the same way."

"Sorry." Ratchet said. "Never knew of any family."

The female Lombax sighed. "I hope you do have someone to rely on."

"Yeah. I left him in the ship for his safety, but normally I have a little robot that I nicknamed Clank with me. He's knock-out right now though. Then there's also Grim, who raised me... though it's more of a 'mentor-student' relationship. But now that I think of it, I never learned your name."

"What's yours? Ratchet was it, right?"

"Yeah."

"Angela. My name's Angela."

"Any last name?"

"Nope."

"Well, what are you doing here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Abduction."

"What?"

"I was abducted."

"Why?"

"I don't know." she lied. "But I managed to escape the people who abducted me. I've been roaming the planet for about a week now, trying to find a way to safety."

At that moment, the rock blocking the entrance to the cave was blown up. Hypernova came walking in, his right hand having taken on the form of a huge blaster, though it was transforming back into a hand. He slowly approached Angela, bolts of electricity jumping across his armor while the static electricity in the air made their fur stand on end.

Ratchet immediately got up and ran in front of her. "Stop!"

Hypernova shoved Ratchet aside and pinned Angela's throat against the wall with his left hand before sending a shock through her body, making her yelp.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Ratchet said, getting back up.

"No flickering..." Hypernova said before letting her go. She fell to the ground, coughing.

He took a knee. "I apologize, but you must understand that the odds of encountering another Lombax are so slim that I didn't believe it was true."

"Yeah, I understand." she coughed. "Performed a similar test on your friend over there."

Hypernova noticed the trail of blood seeping through Ratchet's fur, and fired a small blast of energy containing nanobots that quickly patched up the wound, like Nanotech would.

"Young woman, where in the world did you come from?" Hypernova asked, baffled. Angela repeated her story.

Hypernova shook his head. "If you're going with us, there's no leaving. For your own safety you have to stay near us at all times. Understood?"

"As long as I can get off this hellhole of a planet, I agree with whatever terms you can think of."

Hypernova nodded. "Okay. Ratchet, did you manage to secure a jetpack?"

Ratchet showed him the jetpack that he had attached to his back in his haste. "Fantastic!" Hypernova said. "Alright, let's get off this planet and get that gear to Elaris."

Once they reached their ship, Ratchet sat down in the pilot's seat and Angela sat down in the passenger seat, the unconscious robot in her lap, while Hypernova held on to the wing."

As they flew into space however, Hypernova immediately noticed that Ratchet wasn't heading to Kerwan's sector. "Ratchet, where are we going?" he transmitted using radio waves. He got a data signal in return, and once the download was complete, his armor played the video message.

"Good evening, fellow Blarg." Drek's voice said as the Blargian logo was shown on screen inside three red hexagons. "Chairman Drek here, with the latest update on our quest for a new home!"

The Blargian logo was replaced by a map of a planetary system. Hypernova recognized the planets as Kronos, Sarathos, Maraxus, Stygia, Catacrom 4 and Orxon. "Over the next few days you may notice an increase in Blarg activity around the galaxy."

Red hexagons appeared around the planets, with the Blargian logo popping up everywhere. "While this may alert the authorities to our plan, this move is critical to securing safe passage for our harvesters."

The image was replaced by a planet being invaded by several reddish aircrafts carrying rows of large, glass tanks.

"Case in point: the Starwatch Defense Cannon on planet Batalia." Drek said as the image switched to that of a large, bulky anti-air cannon, sporting a huge, single gunbarrel with two smaller ones mounted on top of the cannon. "This surface-to-space ion cannon has been protecting the galaxy from invasions ever since we were first driven underground."

A red cross was displayed over the cannon. "With this out of commission, our glorious plan can continue! Preparations are already underway, so fear not, stay the course, et cetera, yadda yadda yadda."

The image of Starwatch was replaced by an image of rows upon rows of armed warbots. "Once we eliminate Starwatch and it's surrounding forces, we'll enter the final stages of my plan." Drek said before laughing as the video ended.

"Now you see why we're on our way to Batalia rather than Kerwan. Elaris managed to decode this message from the deep space channels an hour ago according to Clank. The Rangers are already on-site, but they need backup." Ratchet signaled.

"Clank's awake?"

"Yeah. He woke up a few minutes after takeoff."

"Hm. Well, we better hurry, those Blarg won't wait for us."

"Copy that, that's why we're heading to Batalia. I just hope we're not too late."

* * *

 **Alright, introducing my combination of Angela, Sasha and Talwyn! She just kinda slammed into the story now, but trust me, there's much more to this girl than you might think... I definitely have something amazing in store for her backstory indeed! I'm also adding more to Ratchet, as you can read his near-death experience has left him with a fear of water that will become more important later on.  
**

 **Anyhow, I'm also deviating from the PS4/movie plot a little with the return of Planet Eudora from the original PS2 classic.**

 **As promised, the next chapter (a rather lengthy one too) will be uploaded next weekend! Until then, please review, reviews really help keeping me motivated. I love reading the thoughts you all have on this story!**

 **So, again, reviewers are most welcome, flamers are not.**

 **Until next time, people!**


	11. The Siege of Krontos

**So, you all might be surprised to see this story so early. Allow me to explain.**

 **Last Saturday my good friend and fellow writer Amberdiamondswords informed me that this very story, along with those of a few other writers and a lot of her own stories had been stolen by a Wattpad user, who had then made some small but horrendously bad edits in an attempt to cover it up. Any attempt to get in touch with this user would result in getting blocked followed by a friend of the thief verbally attacking you even if you'd show solid evidence. People who rightfully pointed out that a story belonged to Swords for example would repeatedly get chewed out almost immediately by friends of the thief.  
**

 **Fortunately someone managed to convince the thief to delete the stolen content, and the thief even posted an apology note where he/she explains the situation and apologizes for their behaviour.**

 **So all ended well in the end. Thank goodness, because I was so worked up over the fact that someone had stolen Hypernova that I could not sleep out of pure anger. Now both I and my characters can sleep well again.**

 **To celebrate the good ending of this story, here's the next chapter early. No worries, there will still be an update on Saturday.**

 **I'm actually thinking of giving the former thief a few tips for writing a story, here's hoping they'll get the hang of it so they'll never have to make the jump to theft again to get recognition. Though I'm not their friend after all of this, oh no, I still feel kinda bad for them. However, that's not what you're all here for, let's get to the reviews, and then into the story!**

* * *

 **bajy: "** ** _Love this chapter!  
it was great!  
what will happen next?  
looking forward to reading more soon!_"  
Thank you! And wait no longer as I've got a bunch of chapters incoming! Enjoy!**

 **DragonMan2000: "** ** _look forward to your next chapter_ "  
Thank you! Here's hoping this chapter lives up to your expectations.**

 **rst64tlc: "** ** _So you brought bck an old planet from ps2 era, nice touch. I like a story the goes back to the orignals._**

 ** _Also I have a question that's been on my mind for a while: How is the final going to play out? If you adding PS2/PS4 and Movie elements into this, how will it play out? each of the three had different final bosses (well two of them with one of them in a floating robot in space above a star and by himself)._ "  
Yeah, I don't like how the PS4 game looks absolutely insane but lacks the sheer size of the very first two games. GC was probably the biggest game in the series. So I decided to add some of those missing worlds here. Also, it was not until I looked up the PS4's version of the Batalia infobot for reference that I noticed the striking similarities between the shown planets and the sprites from Deadlocked, a nice and subtle reference that I completely missed at first. I can't say how the final boss fight is going to play out but I'll reveal the following: after the finale of True Heroes, the story is only getting started. After this we're moving on to a prediction of mine of what the second rebooted game could be like. Trust me however that the ending to this storyline will be so spectacular that it will blow your minds. I'll leave a tiny hint for you all so you can get an idea of the atmosphere of that scene, the music I'll be listening to when writing that is 'L'Impeto Oscuro' from the game 'Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'. Don't judge it until you've heard it, it's spectacular!  
**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _Alright, introducing my review of this chapter... excellent!  
And now with Angela in the picture Hypernova has TWO lombaxes to defend. Good luck.  
Coming up next: The Siege Of Starwatch coming to you live from FanFic.  
(Sorry, noticed all the Deadlocked planets and thought I'd go for it.)  
Glad to hear chapter 11 will be up soon enough and that it's going to be doozy. (Pumps fist.)  
Max out.  
P.S. Yeah, Ratchet. I'd be afraid of water too, (eyes two Sharkagators) but for com-pleet-ly dif-fer-ent reasons. (Grabs Praetorian Omniwrench) Wish me luck._"  
Thank you! And yeah, he'll have a lot on his mind. Especially since I greatly nerfed him in this story. No time travel for him, if either Lombax dies, it's game over for good. He also runs out of power earlier. And yes, it'll be the battle of the week, right here, in full 12K HD, at Guardian Enterprises! (I went for it too) And the chapter is actually up a lot sooner than expected! Bonus!  
P.S. I actually realized it'd leave me with a brilliant opportunity if I'd give Ratchet a phobia after his painful close call on Rilgar. There's a big reason behind it, trust me. Also, it's kinda adding insult to injury that there's a whole achievement in the PS4 game dedicated to having Ratchet get eaten by a shark on Pokitaru. Here's hoping that doesn't happen to our favorite Lombax. Also, I'm surprised nobody seems to have noticed the short story I uploaded, Torn Souls, that was set in the Epilogue universe and revolves around 'Simyone'. And it's canon this time, don't go waste any more Zurkons on me please! XD  
**

* * *

Batalia was a distant world orbiting a silver star. It's distance from it's star left the surface at a reasonable -7 degrees Celsius, the salt preventing Batalia from freezing over fully and leaving some lakes of water among the sheets of ice covering the planet.

"Ratchet! Good to see you, rookie!" Brax radioed as he spotted Ratchet's Star Jumper entering the atmosphere. "Get to the Starwatch Defense Cannon and show these Blarg who they're messing with."

"Copy that, Brax. We're going planetside." Ratchet replied. His ship had to make a second turn to land to avoid some enemy fire however, the seven Blargian Dreadnought-class warships encircling the area proving to be alert and armed.

"Ratchet, come in! I'm engaging hostiles inside the city and I need backup!" Cora radioed as the ship touched down.

Angela immediately shivered as the ship's cockpit window opened up. "Hey, uh, is there something I can do?" she asked. "I'm not that much of a fighter, you see."

Ratchet nodded. "We got this. Just stay here, we'll be back soon."

Hypernova jumped down from the wing. "I disagree, this combat situation could be some excellent training."

"Are you _insane_?"

"Relax, Ratchet. Wait here, I see a Gadgetron vendor up ahead, I'll get her some armor."

True to his word, Hypernova flew over to a nearby ice platform that had several settlements on it. He flew back a few seconds later, and projected a blue grid onto Angela before the armor was teleported over her skin. "This here is the Gadgetron Praetorian 7 armor. I've quickly altered the design a little to support your ears and tail, and improve overall effectiveness a little with personal shielding. The armor itself consists of fine layers of Trillium and Raritanium, providing a 60% damage reduction. You also have a personal shield on your back that can take a few hits before it needs to recharge, so use it wisely. Sadly, rebreathers were out of stock, so keep an eye out for areas where you won't be able to breathe such as in space or underwater. For offense they had nothing available, the Batalian military issued for all Gadgetron weapon transfers to be halted until the situation has been dealt with, they want to prevent the enemy from acquiring any kind of weapons. Therefore I'll entrust you with some of my personal favorites."

A bulky, orange, two-handed weapon formed in her hands. "This little beauty is the Predator Launcher. Let it charge up and it'll lock on to targets automatically before launching a swarm of deadly missiles. For other threats, here's a standard issue Ranger Combustor." he said, handing her a Combustor. "Now, I managed to spy some Blarg recon drones up ahead that are easy to deal with, go ahead and train your aim on those."

The bridge to the platform with the vendor had been destroyed however, thus Hypernova used his energy to create a bridge. They walked across before it flickered out of existence again.

Equipping her Combustor, Angela attempted to take a shot, only for it to miss it's target completely.

Ratchet stepped forward. "Your pose is wrong." he said. He took her right hand. "Here. Keep it steady. Deep breaths and you'll be okay. Fear is your greatest enemy here, keep a clear head and you'll do better. Try to support your right hand by placing your left hand under the barrel, and use your left hand to fine-tune your aim."

"O-okay." she replied. Ratchet took a step back and let her try again. This time she hit her target. "There we go!" Ratchet said. She smiled.

As a team they proceeded to take out the remaining Recon drones before meeting up with Cora in front of a small warehouse.

"Good to see you guys and did you bring your girlfriend with you or something?" Cora asked, eyeing Angela. The remark made both Lombaxes blush a bit "Not funny." Angela said.

"Not cool, Cora." Ratchet said. "Now can we get to work? This place is cold enough as is."

Cora nodded. "The Blarg have besieged the fort, we'll need to push through their defenses. They haven't touched Starwatch yet to avoid it blowing up in their faces, so we still have a chance.

They moved to a bridge leading to a small island. As they wanted to run across however, Clank noticed something. "Look out!"

They all halted immediately, and a missile slammed into the bridge.

Hypernova sighed. "I'm going to save some energy but you're all not going to like this."

"Like what?" Cora asked before Hypernova suddenly lifted her off the ground and threw her across the gap. Overcoming the initial surprise, Cora used the momentum to kick a Blarg in the face upon landing. Ratchet managed to get across with Clank's help before he caught Angela as Hypernova threw her his way.

"I got you." he said.

"Thanks."

Hypernova then crossed the gap himself, firing an energy-grappling hook at the cliff to his right and swinging across.

Up ahead, there was a small canyon. "The bridge is out, that bolt crank down there seems to be linked to the system." Cora said, pointing at the bolt crank five meters below.

Ratchet nodded and jumped down, only for a small army of recon drones to pop out of nowhere while three Warbots came flying in. Hypernova quickly created a barrier around the bolt crank, and while Ratchet worked on the bridge, Cora and Angela got to work on dispatching the robots trying to break the barrier.

As soon as Ratchet had finished, Hypernova fired the energy-grapple at a Warbot, successfully catching. "Come here!" He yelled before pulling it closer and finishing the Warbot off with a roundhouse kick to the head, destroying some crucial wiring between the processor and power core.

Ratchet, meanwhile, had dropped a few Fusion Grenades for crowd control. Cora was dueling one of the two remaining Warbots while the last one was focusing on Angela. She barely stepped out of the way in time before switching to her Predator Launcher and firing a barrage of missiles.

Ratchet ran at the wall of the small canyon and jumped off it, getting a little boost from Clank and gaining enough momentum to reach the flying Warbot. Ratchet immediately brought his wrench down on the Warbot's head with as much power as possible.

"Toasted." Cora said. She moved to the bridge, only to back off as a tank was suddenly teleported in. "What the hell?!"

"This one's mine." Hypernova said, charging forward and downright tearing the turret off the chassis.

"Damn, did you see that, Brax?" Cora said.

"See what?"

"This guy just pulled a Lectrus."

"A what now?" Hypernova asked.

Brax burst out laughing. "Tearing a vehicle apart with your hands. Respect, man."

Hypernova saluted the aircraft flying past, pursuing a few Blarg saucers dumb enough to try a surprise attack.

"This is just a message for all Blarg down there." Drek's voice came through a communication channel. "Failure to destroy Starwatch will result in automatic dismissal from Drek Industries."

"Someone's pissed." Cora said.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Clank asked. Cora chuckled. "No, I _love_ seeing my enemies frustrated. It means I'm doing well at my job. Let's move before these idiots figure out how to break Starwatch."

Moving across the bridge, the only way up ahead seemed to be a path leading downhill through a small canyon on their left. The only problem was that it was covered in ice.

"Rookies first." Cora said, eyeing Ratchet.

Ratchet carefully stepped onto the ice, only to lose his balance immediately and slide all the way down. "I am guessing ice is not a Lombax' natural habitat." Clank remarked.

"Very funny." Ratchet said, slowly getting up and stepping off the ice. He found himself below another bridge, and some Blarg were currently trying to destroy the bolt crank controlling the bridge. Up ahead Ratchet saw a pathway to the right leading up to one end of the bridge, while the other end of the bridge ended right in front of the fortress.

Turning around when he heard a loud yelp, he saw Angela sliding his way, and he could see a laughing Cora in the distance... but also Hypernova sneaking up behind her.

As he helped Angela get up, he saw Hypernova give Cora a little push, resulting in her stepping forward to compensate, only to fall and slide all the way down as well, followed by Hypernova himself who didn't even try to stay upright.

Ignoring the angry comment Cora threw his way, Hypernova threw a flashbang at the bolt crank. He snatched Angela's Combustor. "It's high noon." he mumbled as he took one second to take aim, before taking out all ten Blarg with exactly ten shots in a span of less than five seconds.

"Apologies for snatching your weapon like that, I had to think fast." he said, giving Angela her weapon back. Said Lombax shook her head. "Showoff."

"I am disappointed in _all_ of you!" Drek yelled through the comms. "Must I make an example out of one of you so you understand how dire this situation is?! Do. Not. Fail. Me!"

A tank materialized in front of them followed by a team of twenty Blarg. The tank fired a grenade at Ratchet, only for said Lombax to catch it with his wrench and throw it right back the way it came, creating a hole in the tank's armor. Cora capitalized immediately, jumping forward and throwing a grenade through the hole before backflipping to safety.

Brax could see the resulting fireworks from within his Star Jumper. "Ka-boom, they're out of the park, baby! Haha!"

He flew over his teammates and dropped an explosive payload in between the Blarg, successfully eliminating more than half of them and forcing the remaining troops on the run.

Ratchet got to work on the bolt crank while Cora and Hypernova took down any Blarg stupid enough to try to attack him.

Angela was staring at him. Judging by his expression, turning the bolt crank required great effort. "It's rusted." Ratchet growled through his gritted teeth upon noticing her stare. She immediately walked over to his side and helped him push against the wrench, and sure enough it began to turn ever so slightly.

"Awesome." Hypernova said once the bridge had been restored. "You two make a good team."

"Thanks." Angela said. "I'm glad to help. Although I can't feel my face anymore, blasted cold."

"Let's get going then." Cora said. "Attention fellow Blarg. HR says I can't fire or kill you for failing to terminate the Galactic Rangers. Therefore the board and I have come up with a little employee reward. The Blarg who helps the Galactic Rangers meet their end will get an all-expenses paid trip to the third ring of Hullabash. Dancing classes, orbital dinner cruises, why, I even heard they offer cooking lessons!" Drek said through the comms.

"Does he realize we can hear him, or...?" Ratchet asked. Cora shook her head, an evil grin present on her lips. "Not until it's too late. Can't help but love it when your enemy is stupid enough to keep feeding you information."

Reaching the end of the bridge however, they met a problem. "The bridge is out, we're gonna need to find another way around." Cora said, noticing a lack of a bridge from their end to the fort.

"Hmm..." Clank said, glancing at a ramp of metal panels. "I am experiencing a sense of familiarity, though I do not understand why."

Ratchet saw it too. "Oh, I get why."

"Please explain it to me then."

"On Gaspar, when you were out cold, I used metal panels like these to get into a hideout. You must have some kind of emergency systems watching over you when you're unconscious."

"That is a reassuring thought." Clank said as Ratchet equipped the Magneboots and walked up the metal ramp.

"Not bad, Ratchet!" Cora yelled after him.

"Come on, team, push forward!" Qwark's voice came through the comms.

"Hey, where _is_ Captain Qwark?" Ratchet asked.

"He said he had 'urgent Ranger business' to attend to." Cora replied. "Whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Huh. Well, I think it's on us then."

After a few minutes however, they could hear sudden loud noises coming from the fort. "Ratchet, come in. What's going on in there?!"

"Lots of resistance, I need backup!"

Without a second thought, Hypernova took a few steps back before jumping all the way to the fort. He immediately created a barrier around Ratchet so that he could safely turn the bolt crank that would allow Cora and Angela to follow.

Soon enough they had regrouped. "Drek's gonna throw everything he has at us. You ready, Rookie?"

"I've been ready my whole life! Let's get to it!"

Cora hadn't been joking. Aside from the amount of Blarg and Warbots already approaching their position, lots of new troops were teleported in up ahead

"I'm tired of this." Hypernova said. "Everyone, stand back. It's time to get a little less energy-efficient."

Hypernova jumped forward before slamming his fists into the ground with enough force to knock all enemies up ahead off their feet. He backflipped high into the sky, before a cyan aura formed around him. Suddenly, he began to fire a barrage of energy blasts at every hostile in sight. "JUSTICE RAINS FROM ABOVE!"

The destruction was immense, the entire courtyard was cleared in ten seconds. Hypernova fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Immediately Ratchet, Cora and Angela capitalized, dashing past him and heading to the building in the back that lead to Starwatch.

Suddenly, the building was blasted open and two tanks came rolling out.

"I've got this one, Rookie!" Cora yelled, jumping onto the tank and sabotaging the cannons. "You and your _girlfriend_ take the other one."

"She's not my girlfriend, Cora!" Ratchet yelled at her.

"Ratchet!" Angela yelled, suddenly diving at him. They ended up rolling across the courtyard, a crater in the ground where he had been standing.

"Thanks for the save." he said.

"Hey, thanks to you I'm finally off that planet. It's the least I can do."

Meanwhile Hypernova got up. He suddenly dashed forward and lifted the entire tank off the ground. "NEVER touch my family!" he growled before throwing the tank through the walls of the fort. It left a large hole in the left wall, and a loud splash hinted at the tank's fate.

Inside the now destroyed building, Ratchet turned the bolt crank, opening the door and extending the bridge to Starwatch.

"Damn it!" Cora yelled as they reached the cannon. "The system is on lockdown! We need to get this thing online, and fast!"

"I believe I can get the systems back online, that is, if there were enough power for the cannon to be operated."

Hypernova growled. He spread his arms, and a stream of lightning fired out of his hands, disappearing into the cannon. "Clank, hurry, I don't know how long I can keep this up!"

Clank got to work immediately, hacking himself into the system. He immediately saw the complexity of the software, and sent a signal to the Ranger Phoenix mothership in orbit of Batalia, where Elaris was assessing the situation.

Elaris immediately understood what had to be done, and remotely helped Clank by clearing out a Blargian virus creating code errors while Clank began to calculate the password.

Ten minutes of trial and error later, Starwatch let out a low hum as all primary systems were restored.

"Alright, let's-oh snap!" Cora yelled. "Ratchet, you need to operate the cannon. We have company!" Cora yelled, running to the bridge to hold off a squad of Blarg. With Clank keeping the systems from shutting down again, Angela having little combat experience and Hypernova providing power, it came down to her to keep any enemies at bay.

Ratchet climbed into the cannon immediately. "Crap, it's a two-seater!"

Angela got in immediately. "Tell me what to do." she said.

"I've already got the primary cannons. Here's what we're going to do, I'm going to defend the cannon while it charges up. When it's done, you need to take aim at those big ships and fire. Got it?"

"How do I do that?"

"These joysticks. Left joystick is turning, right joystick is aiming. The button on the right joystick is firing." Ratchet explained as he got to work.

So did the Blarg, however. Immediately a squad of saucers encircled the defense cannon and began to charge up an attack.

"Those saucers are about to attack!" Clank informed.

Ratchet immediately began to shoot them down, using the two smaller cannons on top of Starwatch.

However, he was not fast enough. The cannon shuddered as the Blarg fired. "Hull integrity 80%" the computer systems informed.

Ratchet gritted his teeth as more and more saucers closed in. "Brax, I need help!"

"Gotcha, Rookie!" Brax yelled, swooping down from above and destroying two saucers before ejecting out of his ship. He punched right through the glass of the saucer he landed on, threw the Blarg out of the cockpit and slammed his fist down on the control panel, causing the saucer to shoot forward and ram three other saucers with destructive effect. Brax jumped off, his ship catching him in mid-air.

Ratchet then noticed the Blargian warships fire several large missiles, some heading for Brax while others were heading for Starwatch. Ratchet got rid of the ones heading for Brax then dispatched the others just in time.

That's when the Starwatch cannon gave a beep. Angela immediately got to work, taking aim and sending one of the warhips to oblivion with a large blast of energy.

Cora smiled as she roundhouse kicked a Warbot off the bridge. Those two made a great team indeed. "You're doing great, Rookie! Keep it up!"

Hypernova roared as he increased the power output tenfold, the cannon charging up faster. Ten seconds later another ship was sent down.

Then he had an idea. He suddenly stopped, and fired a blast of energy at the sky, the bolt of energy turning in mid air and slamming into Starwatch a few seconds later, powering it up further while Hypernova used the moment to charge at a nearby Warship. He blasted right through it's engines, destroying it.

He charged at another, a huge sword of energy forming in his hands as he slashed the ship's engines to bits.

Bouncing off the ship before it could begin to fall, he charged at another, while Angela took aim at one of the other two ships. "We have just enough energy for one blast." she said.

Ratchet nodded. "Make it count."

She bit her lip and carefully aimed the barrel before pressing the fire button.

The beam of energy tore through the warship like a heated knife through butter.

They quickly got out of there as the systems went on lockdown again thanks to a lack of power.

Hypernova was starting to run out of energy as he destroyed the warship. Fortunately, Brax noticed what was going on. "Over here!" he yelled as he flew past. Hypernova let himself fall, firing a grappling hook of energy at just the right time to send him on a near-perfect trajectory. He smashed through the cockpit of the remaining warship, and shrugged off the enemy fire sent his way mere seconds later as he ran for the power core. Upon reaching it, he didn't destroy it.

Instead, he tore the reactor core open and began to drain it of it's energy, gaining more energy himself whilst causing the ship to fall prey to Batalia's gravity and unintentionally set sail for the rocks and ice below.

Hypernova got out just in time as the warship slammed into the ice and exploded. He landed ungracefully on an island due to a lack of power.

Brax made another pass, and allowed Ratchet to latch on using his Swing-Shot. He quickly grabbed Angela and Clank before he flew off. Brax intentionally flew over Hypernova to allow Ratchet to let go. Ratchet quickly wrapped his left arm around Angela's waist while pressing his right hand against the back of her head as the horizontal velocity made them roll a few feet upon landing. Even though she had no helmet yet, Ratchet's fast action prevented Angela from getting a concussion.

To avoid Ratchet from breaking his back, Clank had detached himself before landing, and had landed using his Heli-Pack.

Ratchet ran over to Hypernova. "You okay?"

"Yeah... yeah... just let me recharge." said hero responded, not moving an inch.

Ratchet looked around and saw that they were back on the first island again. He decided to explore a little, and wandered into a few abandoned buildings before he noticed a strange looking rail passing by.

Equipping his Grindboots, he decided to give them a spin as he leapt onto the rail.

Immediately he shot off. Ratchet let out a yell of excitement as he jumped over a few obstacles before passing through a tunnel in a large rock.

He had left the island by now, and was moving along the coastline. "Great job, Rookie! I'm hearing reports that the rest of Drek's fleet is retreating!" Brax radioed. "Elaris, confirm!"

"Copy that, Brax. All remaining forces are turning tail toward Quartu. You guys did great today."

Meanwhile Ratchet backflipped to another railing close by, barely managing to make the jump. He wobbled dangerously for a few moments before regaining his balance.

"Woo-hoo!" he yelled as he began to build up speed. Suddenly, the rail arched downwards at a rather steep angle, and Ratchet built up more and more speed as he blasted through an icy cavern before getting launched off the abruptly ending rail and landing uncomfortably on a conveniently built platform.

He took a few deep breaths to get his nerves back under control before deciding to have a look around. It appeared to be an old docking location for large vessels, likely ones that had the nearby fort Krontos as their destination.

That's when Ratchet noticed something slammed into the metal however. Carefully picking it up, Ratchet found an infobot. It was charred and dented, likely it had barely managed to escape the destruction of it's previous owner's spacecraft.

Due to the infobot model however, Ratchet soon came to the conclusion that it must have been Blargian.

However, when Ratchet tried to get the infobot to play it's recorded message, he found out that the poor robot was only barely alive.

Ratchet informed Brax, who came flying over and helped Ratchet get back to the others. Brax took the infobot and left the atmosphere, heading to the Phoenix Mothership where hopefully Elaris would be able to save the little robot.

Ratchet and Cora's Star Jumpers soon followed, Hypernova holding on to the wing of Ratchet's spacecraft.

* * *

 **Aaaand there we go, folks!**

 **Next few chapters are going to be set on Kerwan as the Rangers figure out their attack plan. (And I think most of you know how that ends up)**

 **Like I said earlier, next chapter will be up on Saturday, after which the regular schedule of one chapter per weekend will kick back in.**


	12. Virtual Improvements

**Alright, so before we begin the story today, I have a few things to say.**

 **First off, why is the chapter early? Well, that's because I turned 18 yesterday morning! So my weekend is gonna be pretty busy, too busy to upload something and give it the time it deserves.**

 **Secondly, I thought that today would be the best day to upload something as today marks my**

 **Then there's another point. Someone attempted to flame this story not once but twice. If y'all want a good laugh take a look below, here's what they wrote.**

 **Attempt number 1:**

" ** _Lol don't worry._**

 _ **No one would want to steal a s*** Gary Sue OC that magically knows what everything and everyone is and pulls s*** from his a** from no where to solve problems. Just saying.**_

 _ **PS you're just regurgitating stuff from the game (this goes for your other stories btw) and adding insignificant pieces to it to barely change it. It's like chewing on a piece of gum, spitting it back out, and expecting it to look better. Learn to write dude, because what you're doing isn't it.**_

 ** _Lol have a good day sir._ "**

 **Attempt number 2:**

" ** _Lol._**

 _ **Upset that someone used your character.**_

 _ **Yes. Because someone would want an oversold piece of s*** Gary-Stu your character is, right? Someone who magically has answers to everything and kills the suspension in the story. Your so called OC is ruining the stories he's in, like he's the main character. The way you put him in the spotlight, hell, he should be. Not to mention you're literally just regurgitating s*** from the games word for word. It's pathetic. That's not a story. And that's not how you become a better writer. If you want to settle for mediocrity then stay the path you're on with flat, overpowered and unnecessary OCs and no unique story line. Go ahead.**_

 _ **And have a good day.**_ **"**

 **Personally I find it rather cute that this person put so much time into writing two reviews for a story they don't like. But since this is another one of those 'guest reviewer troll wannabes' they're bound to come back and see how I react. Well, dear guest reviewer (because you obviously don't have the stones to come at me with a real account), your argument is invalid. Allow me to point out that the very first story I posted on this website, which also contained Hypernova in an even stronger form, rose to become the tenth most reviewed story in this entire archive. Since 'research' seems not to be in your dictionary (the correct term you are referring to is 'mary sue' by the way, funny how you make the same mistake _twice_ , lmao) that's tenth out of roughly 1000 stories. True Heroes may have only a small amount of reviews by comparison but the visitor counts do not lie, so I presume I succeeded in coming up with an appealing plot in both cases. TLDR, guest reviewer troll wannabe, do your research and at least have the guts to get a real account. Because your writing style gives a clear indication of your IQ I bet you'll come back for more, so allow me to make a statement for all people considering to flame this story: save yourself the time and effort, you're not gonna bring me down.**

 **Considering the fact that I follow the original plot, if you're going to criticize that go ahead and criticize the various other stories on this website that do the same thing, yet are all immensely popular. An example would be the long-running series by my good friend RevenantReaper337, whose stories have risen to the number one and number nine spot in the archive, so that's another invalid argument. Regarding the unique storyline, bravo, again no research, if you would have looked past that big mouth of yours, dear guest reviewer, you would have seen the various plot changes I have made.**

 **Despite literally trying to be rude, the guest reviewer does have a point in the fact that an overpowered character generally makes a story less enjoyable. So, for all of you that feel the same way, I'll explain some stuff.**

 **I actually wanted to wait with this and explain it in the story after the Deplanetizer, but it seems now is as good a time as any. First off, every ability Hypernova has wasn't sucked out of my thumb but can be backed up by science. I shall explain some of his abilities and why they bring big downsides with them.**

 **First off, immortality. Yes, Hypernova is immortal. So, how does this work? Simple, using the knowledge of Biology he has figured out a way to upgrade his immune system greatly, up to the point where disease and age are reduced to an absolute minimum. The downside of this, however, is that he is afraid to grow attached to people. Making acquaintances only means growing attached to people that he will inevitably lose. Every time he looks at his friends he cannot do so without a pang of hurt, knowing that his time with them is extremely limited and that he will outlive them.**

 **Next is invincibility. I'm not entirely happy with the way this power is portrayed myself, but in Epilogue I explained it with the armor consisting of element 150, nicknamed Indestructum, of which the atoms would have an immensely strong bond with each other that could only be weakened by the presence of another element, 149. The classic Superman Vs. Kryptonite situation I have since realized, and something I'm not happy with. Especially since this is one of the few things about this OC that a scientist can call bullsh*t on since elements of this size are not stable. Therefore in True Heroes his armor is actually rather weak. It's a personal shield tanking the damage at the cost of energy, which I'll get to now.**

 **Energy. As you all may have noticed, Hypernova seems to have a large amount of energy at his disposal that he can use in many ways. This conversion of energy into solid objects can actually happen because, as Einstein proved, mass and energy are linked. This also means however, that with his immense energy storage, Hypernova weighs a ton, enough to disturb a celestial body. To combat this he constantly has to use energy to avoid his armor from collapsing in on him and cause a catastrophe. This means that he is a walking time bomb, if he runs out of energy, not only he but people in a large radius will die, because as the armor collapses in on itself there is another factor that comes into play. For emergency moments he has a built-in Hydrogen storage and a small fusion reactor called a 'tokamak'. Those reactors have been made in real-life and contain the heat using magnetism. As the armor collapses however, it becomes hot enough for the hydrogen to trigger a nuclear explosion. This means that his biggest downside is conserving energy. He has enough power to cause immense destruction, but doing so would deal massive collateral damage. I'm actually thinking of making a game later in my life in which you play as Hypernova and are basically OP as living heck, with the challenge being not letting all of that power get to your head. It's definitely a concept that needs more work but for now it supports my point: the cost of his energy storage is being a living bomb and constantly having to stay sharp to avoid that power getting to his head. As you saw in the chapter 'Trains, Bombs and Upgrades' he cannot always stop himself.**

 **He also has an irrational fear of losing the people important to him. If you want to take out Hypernova, don't go after the man himself but to the people he cares about, and you'll destroy him. But if you are hellbent on destroying him, just keep shooting and his shield will fail, but as I said earlier, it will trigger a massive detonation.**

 **Lastly, he is absolutely obsessed with bringing his dead relatives back, which _will_ backfire on him later, just like all of his powers do, which is another point of this character: every ability of his will either backfire on him or be misused at some point during the story.**

 **But in the end, am I happy with this character? Despite the amount of thought put into developing his abilities, I'm still not entirely happy with the result, and the nerf hammer is still hanging over Hypernova's head.**

 **But the biggest part about Hypernova is the message. A wise man once said, 'if a young scientist says that something is possible, they are most certainly right, but if an old and respected scientist says that something is impossible, they are most definitely wrong'. Hypernova is the result of me trying to come up with a character that seems to be impossible but, if you look closer, instead proves the wonderful properties that the universe that we live in has. He _can_ exist out there. Secondly it's me trying to break through with a character that breaks the taboo that every character must have at least a few obvious weaknesses. It's a gaming cliché, that bad guys have this obvious weak point, which is even more unrealistic in my opinion. A villain that wants to take down Hypernova has to do in-depth research and come up with a solid plan, dig through everything they can find to find something to use, because let's face it, no self-respecting hero would walk around with his weak points obviously visible and exploitable without at least trying to cover them up for their own safety. In Hypernova's case, he certainly thought this through and came up with as much counters to possible exploits as possible as well as trying to hide his weaknesses as best as he possibly can.**

 **Anyhow, did I expect something like this to happen? Yes, I did. I knew what I was doing when I uploaded a story containing an overpowered character. In the end, am I a bad writer? I doubt it, simply because I've managed to make reading about an overpowered character enjoyable enough for it to be ranked tenth on the most reviewed list. That was the challenge I went for with this character, see if I could make a character that seems impossible (but is not) and still make it enjoyable, or at least to some extent.**

 **So what does this all mean? I'm still not happy with the character and some scenes in this story, and Hypernova's sheer power is actually a thorn in my side because of the challenge of making it enjoyable. With every chapter I need to keep the usage of his powers realistic (if he has that much power at his disposal it would be stupid of him to not use it to protect his friends and allies) and still not make it too pressurized in the chapters. Hypernova's not the main character, this is Ratchet and Clank's story. Perhaps the biggest eyecatcher that I'm not happy with is that this character indeed seems to kill off a lot of suspension that the element of mortality brings with it.**

 **Thus, I'm not gonna spoil what happens, but that's why the Deplanetizer chapter is going to be a relief for me. Thankfully it's only a few chapters away.**

 **So what am I going to do? Right now, nothing. The chapters up ahead have been thought up in such a way that Hypernova's powers aren't too pressurized whilst keeping the focus on the true main characters, or at least one of them. After that I'll try my best to not let his powers outweigh the other characters until we reach the Deplanetizer.**

 **Maybe I'll rewrite these stories one day with a version of Hypernova that is developed even further, but that's something for the future. Right now, I think you've all read more than enough author's notes and are probably wondering when I'm going to get to the story that you're here for. So, TLDR: have faith, reader. There's much more to Hypernova than I'm revealing. I have not played all the cards yet.**

 **And everything will go down when the Deplanetizer gets into the picture.**

 **Now, there is one last thing I have to say before we get to the reviews and then the story: I'm thankful. Thank you to all of you that read my stories despite Hypernova. When I uploaded my very first chapter I thought 'Well, here goes. I'm probably not gonna get any kind of attention with such a character anyway', but here we are, over 200 reviews and over 3000 visitors later, and I'm immensely thankful for every single one of them. The fact that you people are still here regardless of an overpowered character is one of the biggest compliments I can get as a writer.**

 **But I've rambled on for far too long. Proceed, dear reader, I won't be holding you up for longer.**

* * *

 **bajy:** _ **"**_ _ **Love this chapter!  
it was great!  
and I can see it, Ratchet x Angela!  
Qwark... I always never liked him, he is okay WHEN he is being REAL honest and modest, but otherwise, as one of his enemies has said, he's the galaxy's biggest joke...  
Important ranger business my left foot!  
But don't worry I won't spoil, I'm not really like that  
anyways, I wonder what will happen next?  
looking forward to reading more soon!**_ _ **"  
**_ **Thank you! As for your assumption regarding those two characters, I won't be spoiling that part. Qwark... he's not evil but rather foolish. I like the touch they gave him in the re-imagening, making him a villain yet still be relate-able. But with all of that careless acting in the movie and game I'm surprised nobody calls him out on it, or perhaps it only underlines the point Elaris makes further. Who knows? Anyhow, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much as the previous ones.**

 **Max Chronicle:** _ **"(Reads ratings) Yep... 12K HD, it blew up my flipping mind. I going to give this chapter a capital Spiz rating and a bonus positive review because of it's early release. (Yes!)  
Now, about Torn Souls... I read it, very much enjoyed it, but here's the killer.  
a) I didn't leave a review and  
b) I didn't favorite it.  
WHAT THE FRIDGE?!  
(Must of forgot too, I'm not sure :(, immediately favs it)  
And yes, I won't send any Zurkons your way. In fact, I'd say they taught you the errors of your ways. Excellent.  
Here to another great chapter, TWG!  
Max out.  
P.S. Yoohoo, Mr. Zurkon enjoys watching stupid aliens be killed."**_

 **Thanks! And about Torn Souls, I was wondering if you had seen it as it stayed so eerily quiet over there, but then again that's what I get for uploading a story that can only truly be understood and appreciated by the group of people that still read the Epilogue series. Oh, well. As for those Zurkons, uh... *eyes the pile of scrap behind him* yeah... mission accomplished? Anyhow, thank you once again, here's hoping this chapter lives up to your expectations.**

* * *

The hatch in the back of the ship slowly opening up, Ratchet and Cora skillfully flew their spacecrafts into the Phoenix Mothership before parking them next to Brax' Star Jumper.

They quickly headed to the bridge, where they found Elaris sitting at a table. Various equipment was scattered about, the infobot lying motionless on the table with a lamp pointed at it to help Elaris see.

Elaris turned to Ratchet, Clank, Cora and Angela as they approached her. Elaris slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. The damage is too severe."

"Let me look." Hypernova tiredly said. "Ratchet, I'd like to have your help here too. What's wrong with the little guy?"

"It as a ruptured power core, and that's something I can't replace."

"Nanotech, perhaps?"

"Infobots are specifically designed to carry no blueprint information that the nanobots can use." Clank said. "Nanotech would be blind."

Hypernova sighed. "I'm really going to regret this." he said, calling on his powers once more and using them to repair the damage done to the small power core. The second the power core began to come back online however, Hypernova fell backwards. Ratchet hurried over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Power. Can't speak."

Ratchet nodded. "Elaris, can you fly the Phoenix closer to the nearest star?"

"Sure, but why?"

"If I throw Hypernova out the airlock near a star he'll recharge much faster."

"Excellent." Hypernova said, carefully using as few words as possible. Ratchet tried to pick him up only to realize how heavily he had underestimated the weight of the hero in white. "Dense alloy. Forget it." said hero mumbled.

Elaris flew the ship to the nearest star regardless. "Guys, the light's gonna be intense for a few moments." Elaris warned before deactivating the luminosity compensators on the front windows. Immediately a blast of light shined through, giving Hypernova a jump start. He quickly got back up and reactivated the compensators to block out the harsh light. "Thank you." he said. "It's only 1%, but it's enough to keep me going for now. I'm going outside to recharge further, we'll regroup on Kerwan."

Sure enough, Hypernova shot out of the airlock, right at the surface of the star. He flew closer and closer until he was hovering over the corona.

The sheer amount of light pouring out of the blazing fireball was immense, enough to recharge Hypernova in a couple of hours.

Fifteen minutes later however he set sail for Kerwan, where the Ranger mothership was currently landing behind the Hall of Heroes.

Elaris and Clank headed to her office immediately, taking the jetpack Ratchet acquired with them to replicate it for the other Rangers.

Meanwhile, aside from assisting Elaris Clank kept a close eye on the infobot Ratchet found, that could wake up any second now.

Qwark had returned from his 'urgent Ranger business' and was currently in his quarters, coming up with a plan of attack for Skorg City, Quartu.

Shortly after, Hypernova landed outside the Hall of Heroes and requested for Ratchet and Angela to meet up with him in an hour at the indoor training center. Said two Lombaxes used the sixty minutes at their disposal to their advantage by going out for lunch.

"I'm starving, you?" Ratchet asked as they stepped onto an air taxi.

"Yeah." she said. "I haven't eaten since yesterday."

Because Ratchet wasn't quite familiar with the continent-sized city they were in, they decided to just head to the nearest shopping center and buy a holo-map of the city. Said map turned out to be a downloadable feature that was quickly integrated into Ratchet's Quick-Select, allowing him to open up an interactive map at will.

"Hmm... maybe that place?" Ratchet asked, pointing at a restaurant downtown. The map's handy interactive feature involved a life feed showing the amount of unoccupied tables and waiting times at partnered restaurants. The restaurant in question seemed to have a lot of free tables and a short waiting time. Ratchet decided to look up the menu, another handy feature of the interactive map.

Both Lombaxes liked the list of offered dishes, and off they went.

It was a short walk, the restaurant only being a few blocks away. Both Lombaxes used the time they had to admire the city during the ten minute journey to the restaurant.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, taking in the huge buildings everywhere.

"I know, right?" Ratchet replied as they reached the restaurant.

They sat down at an empty table and ordered, and soon enough, they were eating. "So... where did you come from?" Ratchet asked.

"I... I can't remember." she lied. "What about you?"

"Veldin." Ratchet said. "I've been living there all my life. I was raised by a mechanic there, Grimroth Razz. He practically found me at his doorstep one night when I was but an infant. And when I say 'practically', I mean that I was inside a crashed escape pod that slammed into the ground in front of his garage one night." Ratchet said. He sighed. "No name, no message, nothing. He didn't know who I was and neither did I. Grim's become my mentor and close friend."

"Don't you ever wonder..."

"If, and if so, where there are any relatives of mine? Of course I do."

"How do you cope with the fact that there are so many mysteries about yourself?"

Ratchet shrugged. "The past already happened. We can only learn from it, but we can't change it. What happened, happened. So then why should I waste my time trying to figure out something that I can't change even if I wanted to when there are better things I could be doing?"

"Good point."

Ratchet nodded. "That, and... Hypernova knows more than he's telling me, but he's keeping it all a secret."

"What?"

"Yeah. According to him I'd be in danger or something if I knew the truth."

"Then what the hell happened?" Angela mumbled, staring at the golden buildings making up Aleero City.

A few minutes later they had finished eating. Ratchet paid for the food before they headed back to the Hall of Heroes.

"You're late." Hypernova remarked as the two Lombaxes met up with him.

"Sorry, we got held up in traffic." Ratchet apologized.

"Eh, it's no problem. As long as you two come back in one piece, that is."

They entered the training room. Ratchet frowned when he saw that it was in fact nothing more than a rectangular room with a blue color and a white, grid-like pattern.

As if he could read Ratchet's mind, Hypernova spoke up. "Don't judge this room until you've seen it in action."

Suddenly, the entire room began to change, and they found themselves in the middle of a ruined city.

The buildings had a design that neither Lombax had ever seen before, with various symbols carved into the rocks that the buildings consisted of.

They were in a small square that had been devastated, it was as if a huge knife had carved through the rock underneath their feet. The rest of the city was in a similar state.

"Where are we?" Ratchet asked.

Hypernova didn't respond at first. "Let's say, an old memory of mine. Point is, it's a battlefield, and the same thing that happened to this city will happen to Aleero City if we're not prepared. So view it as some mental stimulation to try your best."

A double-ended wrench consisting of cyan energy formed in his hands. "Okay, I'm gonna teach you two some combat tricks from the old Lombax Praetorian Guard. They mostly revolve around meelee combat, but you'll be surprised by the chaos you can create with only a wrench if done right. Alright, the first thing to do is to go stand like this."

Hypernova spread his legs a little, then moved his left feet back a step. "From this position you can easily do anything. Block, attack, run, you name it. Now, the 'guard stance' is holding your wrench in your right hand like this." Hypernova said, moving his right hand. "Let one head rest on the ground while the other extends to your shoulder, and make sure the back of your hand is facing away from you."

Two double-ended wrenches materialized in front of the two Lombaxes, and they mimicked Hypernova's pose.

"Very good. Now, you can deflect bullets with your wrench if you're fast enough, and I mean really, really fast. Hold your wrench like this." he said, holding his wrench horizontally in front of him. "Keep it close to your body but not too close, so that you can take the impact of the bullet. Now, the trick to make it spin is passing the wrench from hand to hand whilst rotating them around the wrist of the other hand. Let me give you an example by demonstrating the move in slow-motion."

They trained for several hours, Hypernova teaching them various handy moves. After they had gotten the hang of the Guardian Spin, he taught them the Comet Strike, which involved throwing your wrench at an enemy in such a way that it'd swoop right back at you. Ratchet was already familiar with the move but Angela wasn't.

After that, Hypernova caused the room to create some holographical enemies for them to defeat.

A squad of four Blarg. Two of them opened fire at them immediately while the two others tried to close in on them.

Ratchet got in front of Angela and performed an excellent Guardian Spin, the deflected bullets taking out one of the Blarg.

As soon as the enemy fire ceased, they seized the opportunity, Angela going for a Comet Strike while Ratchet engaged two Blarg with an overhead Hyper Strike, slamming his wrench against the ground with enough force to create a shockwave.

Suddenly however, one of the Blarg that Ratchet had been fighting teleported to a position behind the Lombax. "What the hell?! Blarg can't do that?!"

"But other enemies can." Hypernova said, getting a flashback of an enemy he hoped he would never see again. "This is the most important part of combat – improvising. In the end, it's your life, defend it!"

Ratchet nodded. He slammed one end of the wrench into the ground and used it to launch himself at his attacker feet-first, scoring a knock-out, before landing on his stomach on purpose and rolling out of the way of the bullets the teleported Blarg sent his way.

Meanwhile Angela had reached her opponent after trying to close the distance between them. Ramming her wrench into the ground, she launcher herself over her opponent before forcefully kicking her legs against the Blarg's neck.

As soon as he had been dealt with, she came to Ratchet's aid, who had spent the last minute dodging.

Angela went for a Hyper-Strike, mimicking Ratchet's earlier attack. The Blarg stepped out of the way and attempted to hit her with his weapon, but Ratchet was faster. He grabbed one of the heads of his wrench and went for a low sweep, making the Blarg fall over. Angela capitalized immediately by putting her foot down on the Blarg's hand whilst pinning his neck to the ground with her wrench. "Check mate."

Hypernova applauded. "Well done! But before we call it a day, there's one last opponent you two have to defeat.

The hero in white began to glow until the blinding light made it impossible to see any details. When the light faded, the two Lombaxes gasped.

A pair of silver-lined glasses rested on his nose, and a pair of calm, brown eyes greeted them from behind the slightly curved glass. His body was covered in chocolate-brown fur with darker stripes, and the fur on his head was slightly longer to resemble hair. He was wearing black jeans and a black vest over a white shirt.

"Me." Hypernova said as he grabbed a double-ended wrench from his back.

* * *

 **Whoo, bit of a short chapter this time but I wanted to end it on this little cliffhanger. Finally Hypernova gets a face.**

 **Next chapter will be significantly longer, though I may upload it mid-week instead of next Saturday.**

 **So for those that wonder, is the conclusion of the story already around the corner? In the game and movie the events after Quartu are suddenly following each other up at a rather rapid pace. I'll be adding some more stuff to the ending chapters to lengthen that part of the story up a little. Perhaps the biggest challenge for me will be explaining the power source of the Deplanetizer. For those that don't know I won't spoil it but it's not that realistic. Then again, with the time that the R &C universe is set in, I think I can come up with some sci-fi style explanation for it.**

 **Either way, I hope to see you all in the next chapter. As always reviewers are welcome, flamers are not. If you are considering to flame this story, do everyone a favor and click the red X at the top-right corner of your screen. If there's something on your mind that you'd like to point out to me, please do so with respect. The term is 'constructive criticism', pointing out flaws in a work with respect to the author and with the goal of helping the author improve their work, which is something writers will only appreciate.**

 **Thank you for reading, and again, hope to see you all in the next chapter.**


	13. Tense Atmospheres

**Whoo, I'm back! I don't have plenty of time right now, and since I don't have anything to say that means that I'll get to the reviews right away.**

* * *

 **bajy: "** ** _Was not expecting this  
this chapter was great!  
ratchet and Angela getting to know each other  
the training: it was sweet!  
And I knew H.N. was a lombax under that armor!  
How will our lombax friends handle facing hypernova in combat? We'll just have to wait and see  
thing's are getting more and more exciting by the chapter  
Looking forward to reading more soon!_"  
Thank you! And you'll be surprised by the story for sure! Here's hoping you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _Congrats on the birthday bro! I hope you have a great one!  
Now, because of some really cool developments, ahem *Hypernova spar* ahem, I'm going to have find something to do while I wait for the next chapter.  
(Reads Pre-Story Author Notes) That'll do...  
I LOVE it when we get to learn something about something, whether it's a character's backstory or a the in-depth descriptions of power and capabilities, each of these things is amazing and a real (dare I say it) blessing when an author explains something. It's cool.  
(And I hope that whoever typed those reviews sees this: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING A POWERFUL CHARACTER.)  
I mean, go look at Nathaniel. From what I've seen of this archive there are only two characters who have the capability to defeat him should he go over to the dark side. And one of them is a character you flat out flamed. Although I don't think about the "balancing acts" that make Hypernova an actual character, it shows that the immortal hero has depth, making the Epilogue series and True Heroes very enjoyable reads.  
Plus, HE"S IMMORTAL, using that time to develop plans and back-ups for when things go wrong. It makes perfect sense. He's not "magically having answers to everything", he's thought answers to everything. Then he utilizes them for the sake of epic, SPIZ level buttwhooping. Utterly awesome.  
Max out.  
P.S. Seriously, if you ever get around to making that game, let me know. I'd love to play it._"  
Thanks! And I had a really great day, so mission succeeded!  
And thank you for the support. I actually wonder what would happen, Simon Vs. Nathaniel...  
P.S. I'm a C# scrub so don't expect that to happen anytime soon, but... least I can do is dream, eh? No worries, should it ever see the light of day I'll let you know for sure!**

* * *

Hypernova allowed his opponents no breathing room as he charged at Ratchet. Angela tried to stop him but he quickly rolled under her attack before knocking Ratchet over.

He followed up by trying to pin Ratchet to the ground, but the Lombax quickly rolled out of the way and defensively pointed one of the wrench's heads at Hypernova.

Said hero moved his right hand to the back of his wrench, letting it rest on the head before suddenly shooting it forward, the heads of the two wrenches locking onto each other. Ratchet ended up getting pinned to the wall by his own wrench.

Angela quickly charged at the two locked wrenches. She rolled under them before suddenly going for a drop kick, throwing her full weight against the two wrenches.

The momentary lack of balance allowed Ratchet to regain control, breaking himself free and going back onto the offense.

Angela slammed one head of her wrench into the ground and launched herself at Hypernova. He quickly held his wrench vertically to tank the impact before countering with a sweep that sent her flying across the room. Ratchet was quick to catch her, thankfully.

They were slowly forced more and more on the defense, until both jumped to the same conclusion.

This situation required teamwork.

Switching from defense of offense all of a sudden would be a terrible idea if not executed properly, but thankfully Lombaxes were anything if not inventive.

And soon, both had a plan. Angela tightly grabbed one of the heads of Ratchet's wrench and he threw her over Hypernova. She landed behind him and switched to the offense immediately.

Hypernova dropped down to his hands immediately while using his legs to throw a powerful kick in her direction, which she countered by dropping on top of him.

Hypernova rolled away in time before attempting to pin her to the ground, only to almost have his weapon knocked out of his hands by Ratchet.

Hypernova smiled, they were doing exceptionally well. He swung at Ratchet to force him to back off before trying to pin down Angela again, only to realize that she had used the moment to get up and attack from behind.

She threw her wrench against his neck at full force, knocking him over and pinning him against the ground.

Ratchet quickly took Hypernova's weapon and used it along with his own wrench to pin his hands against the ground.

"Well done!" Hypernova complimented before getting up all of a sudden, shaking off the weight of the two Lombaxes as if it was nothing.

"Who _are_ you?" Ratchet asked as Hypernova transformed back into his armored form.

"That's a worry for later. It's getting late now, so we're going to call it a day. Qwark had a presentation for us to attend to however, regarding returning the favor and investigating Drek Industries. It's due to start in fifteen minutes in the meeting room on the third floor. See you all there."

And with that, he left. Their wrenches of energy vanished as Hypernova walked out the door, and the training room took on it's normal blueprint-style overlay again.

The two tired Lombaxes walked out the door, then out of the Hall of Heroes altogether. They sat down on the staircase outside the massive building.

The sun was dropping behind the horizon, the light filtering through the urban maze casting golden glows on the buildings. Both felt a cool breeze play with their fur. Normally they would have shivered, but right now it was a welcome gift considering the amount of effort they had put into their training.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Angela suddenly spoke up.

"Hm? Yeah, it is." Ratchet responded, staring at the seemingly endless streams of traffic navigating their way through the city in surprisingly well coordinated lanes of traffic.

"It's my favorite part of the day." she said.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"It's because of the transformation. Not just the whole planet seems to undergo a transformation, but everyone on it does as well. During the day you're all busy and active, but then the sun begins to set. Sunset marks the time during the day when everyone begins to settle down and spend time for each other. It's a time of friendliness and peace, and add to that the wonderful colors that the atmosphere takes on the closer the sun gets to the horizon... I just can't help but fall in love with it every day again."

"If you put it like that... it's kinda poethic."

"Funny how you call it that." she said with a laugh. "I think about it the same way. A day is nothing more than a few lines of the poem of nature."

Ratchet nodded, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go find that meeting room."

They got up and walked back into the Hall of Heroes. Taking the elevators to the third floor, they began their wander through the maze of hallways.

After a few minutes they ran into Elaris and Clank, the former carrying a cardboard box.

"Hey, are you two lost?" Elaris said.

"Yeah, kinda." Ratchet said.

Elaris chuckled. "Happens to the best of us. Whoever designed this crazy place certainly was a fan of hallways. Come on, follow me."

Soon enough they walked into the meeting room. "Whoa, whoa, hold on there." Qwark said, noticing Angela. "Only Rangers." he said, pushing her back out the door.

"And that counts for you, too!" Qwark yelled at Hypernova over his shoulder. "Get out of here!"

Hypernova chuckled. "Go ahead and make me, Qwark."

Qwark rolled his eyes before slamming the door shut in Angela's face. She shrugged and sat down beside the door, waiting for the presentation to finish.

Meanwhile Ratchet, Brax, Cora, Elaris, Clank and Hypernova had all taken a seat around the horseshoe-shaped table.

"Alright, Rangers, our plan of attack is simple." Qwark said as a projector flashed to life behind him and began to show a presentation... made with crayons?

"HALO-drop into Skorg city, fire a whole mess of bullets, and take Drek into custody so we can be home in time for waffles."

"Wait, that's our plan?" Elaris asked.

"Yes it is." Qwark said, proudly staring at his work.

"Pardon me, Captain, but Chairman Drek is cunning. He will be prepared for our assault." Clank remaked.

"Look, I think it is beyond _adorable_ that you decided to do all this homework, but big heroes do big things. Each second we waste talking is a second Drek could use to destroy another planet."

"But wouldn't it be worth taking five minutes to review _our_ plan? We have holo-schematics, and-"

"Does anyone else feel like we should've shot something by now? Because it really feels like we should have shot something by now." Brax tiredly said.

"Thank you." Cora added.

"Let's take votes. All those in favor of kicking in Drek's front door with a massive arsenal and restoring peace to a galaxy in turmoil, say aye!" Qwark said.

Brax, Cora and Ratchet immediately said "Aye!"

"And all those in favor of nerding it up here with some charts, say nay!"

Elaris, Clank and Hypernova immediately said "Nay!"

"Motion passes, we attack Drek Industries tonight!" Qwark said.

"But there were an equal amount of votes for both options." Hypernova said.

"I vote aye as well."

Hypernova shook his head. "Oh, Captain."

"What now?"

"Overconfidence, is a flimsy shield. Think of that." Hypernova said before leaving the room.

"So? What's the plan?" Angela said, getting up as soon as the door opened.

"Doesn't matter, you're not going planetside." he said. "You know how to keep yourself safe, but this mission will be far more dangerous than Batalia."

"But I want to help! I can't just let you people go down there-"

"Yes, you can and you will." Hypernova cut her off. "You're heavily underestimating what will be facing you down there. We're heading into the heart of the Warbot factory. To all Rangers, even Ratchet, firing a Combustor has become second nature and they can do so with barely having to aim at all. For you this is not the case, thus please, stay on the Phoenix Mothership and practice your aim. I don't want to sound harsh but I don't want to see you get killed. Just... please sit this one out. And I'm sure Elaris could use your help."

She sighed, letting her back rest against the wall whilst staring at her feet. "Fine." she eventually said.

A few minutes later the rest of the Rangers left the meeting room after a discussion regarding the weaponry they would be taking with them, and in Qwark's case, how they should be posing in the images for the covers of the newspapers.

While Brax, Qwark and Cora disappeared into the hallways, heading to their quarters, Ratchet grouped up with Angela and Hypernova, who were waiting for him. He turned to Clank when said warbot left the room. "Hey Clank, you coming?"

Clank shook his head. "I am afraid I cannot. I promised to assist Elaris with some work she has yet to finish. I will spend the night here if you do not mind."

"No, that's okay if that's what you want. In that case I'll see you tomorrow, pal." Ratchet said. He waved at Clank as said warbot glanced over his shoulder one last time before disappearing around the corner.

"Well," Hypernova said, "I talked to Elaris about the Rangers all having sleeping quarters here, and unfortunately there's no room right now for either of you to stay here for the night. I'll be spending the night elsewhere myself as well. If I weren't almost broke I'd give you both some bolts to get a hotel room with, but it seems you two are on your own. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Thanks anyway." Ratchet said.

Hypernova nodded. "Alright then. Remember be here tomorrow at nine o'clock."

"We got it." Ratchet said. "Have a goo night."

"Same to you, amigos. See you tomorrow." Hypernova said before walking off.

"Well, shall we?" Ratchet asked. Angela nodded. "Let's go."

They walked through the maze of hallways for a few minutes before finally coming across an elevator and finding a way out.

After walking down the long bridge to the Hall of Heroes they used an air taxi to get to a more populated area of the city a few blocks from the Hall of Heroes.

Night had fallen by now, and Aleero City was beautifully lit by lights embedded in th ground and walls.

They tiredly stepped into the lobby of a hotel. Angela sat down while Ratchet got them a room.

When he returned, she got up, and together they dragged themselves up the stairs to their hotel room on the third floor. "There's one thing." Ratchet said, turning a bit red. "This was the last room for two persons that they had available."

"Meaning...?"

"The beds aren't separate." Ratchet replied, using the card he had been given to open the door.

"This is _probably_ gonna be awkward." Angela said as they stepped into their hotel room.

"Not if we don't make it awkward." Ratchet said. "Let's just not think about it too much."

She nodded. With neither of them having any sleepwear, they brushed their teeth with the toothbrushes provided by the hotel before stepping into bed in their normal clothing, though they took off their shoes.

"Well, goodnight." Ratchet said before he killed the lights, shrouding the room in darkness.

It stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Ratchet?"

"Yeah?"

"Doesn't it hurt you, that Hypernova has the answers you seek but won't give them?"

"It does." Ratchet truthfully replied. "I honestly can't stand it. Like, the answers I always wanted are right in front of me, but I just can't reach them. That stings."

"What do you think of him?"

"I dunno." Ratchet said, rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling. "He seems to be my only true relative left, but... no name, no face, it's hard to keep in mind that it's a person when you got no name or face to tie the personality to."

"So I'm not the only one feeling that way."

Ratchet nodded.

"I'm sorry." she eventually said. "I wish you would remember your parents, or at least got to meet them. Having no memory of your past is... hard. Feels like a piece of your soul is missing."

"Yeah. How do you cope with that?"

"...I don't. It constantly hurts me that I have nothing to live for. I don't even know who I am!"

"I'm sorry for you."

"Thanks. Having a friend helps."

Ratchet chuckled. "That so many things can happen in the span of just one day."

"It's strange. I've only known you for hours, but I feel like I've known you for months."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Depends, but I'm thankful for it. Thank you for being a friend."

Ratchet nodded. "Well, we'll see what happens tomorrow, eh?"

Angela didn't respond, likely she was already falling asleep. He shrugged with a smile and rolled onto his side before he slowly fell asleep as well.

* * *

The next morning Angela woke up to find herself wrapped in Ratchet's arms. She quickly got up, blushing. Ratchet woke up several minutes later, only to see Angela already put her shoes back on.

"Morning." he said with a yawn before getting out of bed himself. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. Her hair was a mess, she soon realized, so she quickly got to fixing that. Silently, Ratchet didn't mind, it looked cute on her.

Once they were both ready to go, they went downstairs and checked out before heading to the Hall of Heroes. Upon arrival they noticed the large vessel hovering in front of the building. Brax was standing outside, waving at them. "Great to see you, Rookie! And, uh... who's this by the way?" he asked.

"I'm Angela, pleased to meet you." she said.

Brax frowned. "Do you know how to handle yourself in a fight when you don't have backup?"

"I don't want to find out just yet."

"You're not going planetside, hm? Well, that's okay. Nothing we can't handle, eh Rookie?"

Ratchet smiled and nodded. They boarded the large vessel. "This thing never ceases to amaze me." Ratchet said.

"Heh, I can relate to that." Brax said.

They set sail for Quartu a few minutes later. Brax went to his quarters on the lower deck to get his gear ready, Qwark was nowhere to be found and thus downstairs as well, Ratchet assumed, and Cora was doing a check-up on the Ranger Star Jumpers.

Ratchet quickly got to helping her, being a mechanic, while Angela met up with Elaris and Clank at the bridge. "Hey." she said.

"Hiya! Ready to get going?" Elaris excitedly asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Angela said as they left the cerulean atmosphere of Kerwan behind and engaged the jump drive. They would arrive at Quartu in half an hour. Grouping up with Clank, Angela walked to the hangar bay where Ratchet and Cora had just finished their check-up, concluding that all ships were in mint condition. After grouping up with Ratchet they began to explore the large ship.

Upon reaching the mess hall, they found Qwark and Brax sitting at a table, discussing some parts of the attack plan over a bowl of soup. They sat down next to them, Brax saluting them while Qwark didn't seem that happy, truthfully.

"Hey, where did you guys get soup?" Ratchet asked. Brax pointed at a device in the corner. "There's a tank in the floor here with that stuff. It's no award winning stuff, but for travel supplies it sure as heck isn't that bad."

Brax informed them that they would split up upon landing, he and Qwark would flank the east and Ratchet and Cora would take the western side of the production facility.

Soon enough the moment came for them to disembark the Ranger vessel and head into the unknown.

"Be safe down there, will you?" Angela asked as Ratchet was about to head to the airlock. "Don't worry, I'm not dying today." Ratchet said before he walked off with Clank and disappeared around the corner.

Upon reaching the airlocks, Elaris came walking up to Clank. "Alright, you remember how to activate the jetpack?"

"I do."

"Great. Remember, it's powered by Ratchet's Proto-suit. Don't try any solo flights."

"I will endeavor to-" Clank began before he was cut off by Ratchet. "He's in good hands, Elaris."

Qwark came walking up to them, eyeing Clank. "You sure you want to take the, uh... 'extra baggage'? No offense, but we're dropping straight into a cauldron, and you know what's inside that cauldron?"

"Is it danger?" Brax asked as he walked past.

"It's... yes, it's danger."

"Let's roll!" Brax yelled. All of the Rangers save for Elaris took position on the vertical airlock, each of them having deployed their helmets.

"Alright, team. Let's bring it in. Remember our target is Chairman Drek. Ready, Rangers? On the count of three!"

They were suddenly shot out of the Phoenix. "Three!" Qwark yelled, laughing, before blasting off with Brax and Cora following him. "Keep up, rookie!" Cora yelled over her shoulder.

"Alright, pal, are you ready?" Ratchet yelled over his shoulder.

"Well, I, uh-"

"Ratchet activated Clank's jetpack through his suit, and off they went. "Wo-hoo!" Ratchet yelled as he passed Brax, who gave him a thumbs up. Ratchet then rolled past Cora before overtaking even Qwark.

As they passed trough the dense, polluted and cloudy atmosphere, the surface slowly came into view. Ratchet couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the planet. Buildings spewing out dark smoke arose from a foggy and dark abyss, Ratchet could vaguely make out some elevated plateaus, and the dying plantlife inhabiting them. It was terrible, the sickly dull green atmosphere only adding to the depressing scene.

Ratchet landed on a walkway outside the production facility. "Ratchet to Rangers, I've landed in Quartu, but I've run out of jetpack fuel." he radioed as he saw Brax and Qwark head to the eastern side of the facility. That's when Ratchet noticed something. "Hey, where'd Hypernova go?"

"Up here." Hypernova radioed. "I've decided to stay aboard the Phoenix and help Angela with training."

"Oh. Well, wish her good luck." Ratchet replied. "Elaris, any status on defensive mechanisms?"

"Negative, scans show no outer defensive mechanisms. That does not mean that they may not be anticipating some kind of attack."

"The bridge is out, follow me." Cora said as she and Ratchet walked up to a gap in the road leading to the western landing platforms. "I'll hit the switch, wait here." Cora said before using her own dwindling jetpack reserves to cross the gap and activate the bridge. Immediately a few hatches embedded in the walkway opened up, and thousands of drones began to flood the area. "Retract it, retract it!" Ratchet yelled.

"You sure?"

"I'll make it!" Ratchet said, swinging his Omni-Wrench to keep the enemies at bay. Cora forced the bridge to begin retracting and Ratchet quickly boosted himself across with Clank's Heli-Pack.

"Good work, Rookie." Cora said. To their surprise, the landing platforms were deserted save for the empty shuttles. One shuttle was missing, their design identifying it as the spacecraft that Clank had escaped in. To their surprise, the door was wide open. They cautiously made their way inside.

"I'm in." Qwark radioed. "Any sign of Drek?"

"Negative." Brax responded. "The place looks deserted."

"My internal coordinate system indicates a right turn up ahead." Clank remarked.

"Eh, my guts say this way, Clank." Ratchet replied.

"Glad you're getting in touch with your feelings, newbie." Cora said. "But we're turning right."

"Because?"

"Because I'm your senior Ranger and I say so, that's why."

"Okay, okay. Geesh, freaky." Ratchet muttered.

"What's that?"

"Huh? Oh, erm, I said, thank-y, for those words of wisdom!"

"Good save." Clank remarked. "This feels too easy. Why was there no alarm?"

"It is strange, everyone, stay sharp."

Suddenly, they all heard movement in the distance. Brax quickly turned around, but saw nothing. "Anyone heard that?" Qwark radioed.

"Engaging motion scan." Cora said. "I'm getting something."

"Yeah, me too." Brax said.

Cora began to feel more and more nervous as her sensors picked up more and more movement, before Ratchet suddenly yelped and pulled on her arm, turning her around.

A swarm of airborne robots was ganging up on them, one of them yelling "Yo-hoo!"

"Zurkons!" Cora yelled.

"Mr. Zurkon is looking to kill you!"

Brax wasn't having an easier time either, flying up into the sky whilst dual wielding Combustors to engage the robots ganging up on him. "Boom, baby!" he yelled.

Brax quickly switched to a Pyrocitor and destroyed the robots flanking him before taking the Alpha Disruptor out for a spin.

Meanwhile Ratchet and Cora sprinted through the hallways, trying to avoid the torrent of plasma sent their way whilst firing a few shots over their shoulder. "Wait, I got a plan." Ratchet said, switching out his Combustor for his Omni-Wrench. "Are you _insane_? What do you plan on doing with that thing?"

Ratchet suddenly stopped and began to spin his wrench around. Having a single-ended wrench meant that he required a greater speed, but he was up to the challenge. Spinning his weapon around at a high speed, Ratchet used the storm of fire sent his way to his advantage, redirecting it to the synthenoids firing them and destroying the majority of them. Cora had taken cover in the meantime, taking down some Zurkons with her Combustor.

"Heads up!" Ratchet yelled, grabbing the Buzz Blades and aiming it at Cora.

"Whoa!" Cora yelled, getting out of the way just in time. Ratchet fired a blade, hitting a crucial door component and causing it to shut, blocking out the Zurkons. They could vaguely heard a robotic 'ow!' from the other side as the Zurkons slammed into the door.

"Nice shot." Cora said. "Do that again and I'll shoot you myself."

Cora walked into the room. "What is this place?"

"Huh." Ratchet said.

"If I may." Clank said, dropping down from Ratchet's back and walking to a data terminal in the center of the circular room before he began to type on the keyboard. "Hmm... fascinating."

"Is there any data you can pull?" Cora asked, keeping her weapon aimed at the door.

"Negative, the data drives seem to have been wiped."

That's when Clank suddenly had an idea. "Hold on. Perhaps..."

Clank opened up his chest compartment and took out the infobot that Ratchet had found on Batalia. It still had not woken up, Clank and Elaris had concluded that something was interrupting the startup sequence.

Wiring it up to the computer terminal, Clank suddenly found the problem. The poor infobot's data drive had been wiped of all artificial intelligence, turning it into a lifeless chunk of metal. It had never had any personality or mind, or at least, it had been deleted. Clank realized that the infobot must have been marked as 'lost' and remotely destroyed. He was able to recover a single line of code however, one that made him tilt his head in confusion. "How unusual."

"What did you find, pal?" Ratchet asked, who was keeping an eye on the only other entrance to the room.

"Nothing." Clank quickly said as he typed in the code he found on the keyboard. What he had found was invaluable, but he simply did not have the time to explain it.

As expected the code restored the data drives, or at least to some extent. Digging through the info however, Clank found nothing but facility logfiles from months ago, except one file that stood out. Clank opened it up. A holographical screen popped up above the keyboard, and various schematics were displayed. "These are plans for some kind of Blargian aircraft manufacturing plant." Clank remarked.

"A what and where?" Ratchet asked.

"The place where they build their ships, Rookie." Cora said.

"I am now cross-referencing the provided coordinates with a galactic map." Clank said. "Ah. The facility seems to be located in the rainforests of planet Arylis."

Suddenly, the door Ratchet had been covering was blown in, with an army of Zurkons approaching.

"Looks like it's time to get out." Cora said, trying to stay calm.

"You're not kidding." Ratchet replied.

* * *

 **Aaand I'm gonna leave you all with that there, they're stuck in a small room with an army of Zurkons swarming in! About the next chapter, as you can see I cut Ms. Zurkon and Clank's infiltration entirely but for a very good reason, which you'll see later down the line.  
**

 **I hope to see you all in the next chapter. Until then, reviews are most welcome and appreciated, flamers are not.**


	14. Rebriefing

**Whoo, I'm back! Sorry to keep y'all waiting for so long again, folks. There are too few hours in a day. Well, this is late as is, so let's just get to it already, shall we?**

* * *

Complete and utter chaos followed Ratchet and Cora as they ran for their lives. Ratchet had quickly grabbed Clank before making a run for it, the synthenoids taking him as a target and unintentionally allowing Cora to make her move. The Zurkons realized a second too late as they were blown to smithereens by a Warmonger missile.

"You shouldn't have done that." Cora mumbled, shaking her head as she reloaded her missile launcher before taking off after Ratchet.

She found him a few corridors later inside a room filled with shipping crates, pinned down by a swarm of Zurkons.

"Cora, stand back!" he yelled over his shoulder. "Clank has a plan!"

Ratchet pointed to the magnet hanging above a few crates. Cora suddenly understood the plan. "I'll cover you, rookie! Throw Clank!"

Clank got off Ratchet's back and held on to Ratchet's wrench before the Lombax swung the weapon around, sending Clank flying to the magnet controls.

Some Zurkons found the little robot an interesting target, though they were quickly taken out by Ratchet and Cora. Ratchet ran out of cover to distract the rest as Clank hacked the magnet.

Suddenly, the Zurkons stopped as something else caught their interest. They gave each other a surprised look before they were suddenly pulled back by an invisible force and slammed against the magnet.

"Great job, pal!" Ratchet yelled, turning to Clank, only to see the little robot cling to the control panel like a lifeline, apparently also affected by the magnet. Ratchet quickly threw a Fusion Grenade, destroying the mass of Zurkons stuck to the magnet. Clank immediately slammed his fist down on the emergency override function, and the magnetic force disappeared.

They moved on through the facility, and they found themselves in a huge room. Assembly lines were running through the interior, with a huge furnace in the center.

"Oh, my. This is the place of my creation. I am experiencing many conflicting feelings." Clank said, taking in the interior of the massive room.

"Let's secure the upper level." Cora said. "I spy a refueling station behind that forcefield over there. I'll get to the upper level, you make your way through the lower level and make your way to that thing."

"Gotcha." Ratchet said, grabbing a Combustor as he made a run for it.

Running across the assembly lines, Ratchet ran under the furnace but found himself under fire immediately as a Blarg squad manning a turret focused fire on him. "Think you can flank that turret?" Cora radioed, who was beating the crap out of a Zurkon-unit.

"I got it!" Ratchet yelled. He took cover behind a large crate and pulled out the Bouncer. He fired a grenade to the left of the turret. The Blarg let out a yelp of surprise, but after nothing happened, they refocused fire with a laugh. "Ya missed, rug-in-the-making!" The Blarg on the turret yelled.

Ratchet gritted his teeth and waited.

 _BOOM!_

The Bouncer grenade exploded, releasing a swarm of miniature bombs that sought out and annihilated the Blarg with deadly accuracy, a cluster of metallic predators seeking their prey in a deadly game of tag.

Ratchet made his way along the wall of the room, jumping from conveyor belt to conveyor belt while battling the Zurkon units trying to flank him before finally reaching his destination.

After Clank finished hacking the refueling station, they regrouped with Cora on the second tier of the facility. "Let's press on, we need to find Drek." Cora radioed before blasting off to the door in the distance.

Ratchet went after her, only to stop in mid-air as Cora slammed into a forcefield and comically slid down a few feet before her jetpack got her back into the air.

Drek laughed through the intercom system. "Oh, how _amusing_. I'd love to stay and watch the show, but I gotta run! Toodles!"

"Drek and his stupid forcefields!" Cora yelled, slamming her fist against the metal wall in frustration.

"There seems to be an override function in that control room up there." Clank pointed out with a nod of his head.

Ratchet and Cora immediately flew over to it. Ratchet slammed his fist into the override button, and the forcefield deactivated.

"You can all relax now, I'm finally here." Brax said, who came flying into the area from another hallway. He landed on the platform on top of the furnace. The peace was short-lived however as something rose into view behind him. Ratchet and Cora's jaws dropped. "Look out!" Cora yelled.

Brax turned around and came face-to-face with a monstrous machine. "GOOD-BYE, STUPID RANGER!"

The huge machine fired a blast of energy, sending Brax flying. He slammed into the wall next to Cora. "I'm okay..." Brax mumbled absentmindedly. "Shit!" Cora hissed, dragging Brax into the control room. "I'll try to get Brax back up, you get that _thing_ down."

Taking a good look at the machine, Ratchet saw it closely resembled to a Zurkon unit, a blaster instead of a right hand and a thruster instead of legs. This model however, aside from being much larger, also had a different design, instead looking like an elderly lady with slim-lined glasses and a large necklace of steel orbs.

"MS. ZURKON WILL NOW PROTECT HER FAMILY!" it blared before a barrier formed in front of it.

Clank activated the jetpack for extra mobility, and Ratchet threw a fusion grenade against the barrier. It flickered for a moment.

Ratchet began to unload his entire arsenal on the barrier whilst trying to dodge the fire Ms. Zurkon returned, and soon enough the barrier shattered. Ms. Zurkon opened up the steel orbs hanging around her neck, and a whole army of regular Zurkon units came flying out.

"HA HA HA! IT'S TIME TO MEET THE FAMILY!"

Ratchet quickly took out a Pyrocitor and attacked the Zurkon swarm head-on, destroying them before they even had a chance to set up properly.

That's when he was sent flying across the room by a powerful blast. The air was knocked out of his lungs on impact, making him gasp for air. "HA HA HA! MS. ZURKON HAS BROUGHT YOU CLOSER TO DEATH!"

Immediately Ms. Zurkon took a missile to the face, but one that wasn't courtesy of Ratchet. "Hey asshole!" a female voice echoed through the room. Ratchet turned his head to where the sound came from and, to his surprise, noticed Angela positioned on a walkway on the other side of the room, holding a smoking Negotiator. She reloaded it with a loud click. "There's more where that came from."

The most eye-catching feature though was Angela's armor. It had the exact same color scheme as Hypernova's and, frankly, really closely resembled the hero in white. It covered her from head to toe, a blue visor protecting her face whilst still giving her a good view of her surroundings.

"Look out!" Ratchet yelled when he noticed that Ms. Zurkon was about to charge up another blast of energy.

Angela, however, didn't move. Ratchet saw her focus and somersault out of the way just in time. He raised an eyebrow, but immediately pushed any thoughts about her strange way of acting to the back of his mind. Clank's jetpack flared to life and he flew over to her position. "Ready?" he asked.

She nodded with a grin. "Let's show them who they're messing with."

Ratchet flew up into the air and began to fire from above while Angela tried to get a shot at Ms. Zurkon's back side, which was significantly less armored.

While Ratchet flew back and forth at record speed, Angela held still and focused. She held her breath as she carefully took aim at Ms. Zurkon's neck, and fired a few rounds.

Her aim hadn't been perfect, but accurate enough to deal significant damage. Ms. Zurkon turned around immediately and summoned her barrier once more, completely forgetting about Ratchet in the process, a mistake that Ratchet immediately used to his advantage.

Suddenly, with a loud war cry, Brax came charging into the fray, using his jetpack to build up speed before pinning Ms. Zurkon against the wall. "End of the line, you bastard!" he yelled. Ms Zurkon retaliated with a loud screech, releasing a blast of electricity.

Brax gritted his teeth and tanked the hit before slamming his fist into Ms. Zurkon's right eye, punching right through the glasses.

Ms. Zurkon tried to release another swarm of smaller Zurkon units, but those were quickly taken down by Combustor fire courtesy of Ratchet and Cora.

"Glad you two are joining in." Ratchet said, flying over to Cora.

"Yeah, but where did your _girlfriend_ come from all of a sudden?"

"First off, that's not funny. Secondly, I don't know. What happened up there on the Phoenix?" Ratchet wondered out loud as he watched Angela fire a Negotiator missile at the thruster keeping Ms. Zurkon airborne.

Although the thruster didn't die, the blast did pry loose some protective plating. Brax immediately capitalized, tearing off the plating with his bare hands before tearing the thruster off altogether.

Without anything keeping her airborne, all Ms. Zurkon fell to the ground. Brax walked up to the sparking machine and threw one last punch, sending Ms. Zurkon falling into the depths of the production lines far below.

"Elaris, come in. We've run into some resistance, but we're wrapping up our sweep of Drek Industries." Cora reported. "Any ideas on Drek's whereabouts?"

"There's something happening at the facility's tarmac. I don't know what it is but there's a significant heat generation coming from that location."

"The tarmac? That is the location of the escape pods. I used one of them to escape the facility shortly after my creation." Clank said.

"Shit! The bastard's making a run for it! We gotta move, now!" Cora yelled. Immediately everyone made a run for the exit.

They arrived at the tarmac just in time to witness the last escape pod leave the atmosphere. "Damn it." Cora and Brax said in unison. "Elaris, target has escaped. Mission failed." Brax reported.

"Not entirely." Clank spoke up. "Remember that we have been able to gather information regarding the location of the Blargian aircraft manufacturing plants. Perhaps we can find more information on Drek's whereabouts or plans there."

"Hey, have any of you seen Qwark?" Ratchet asked, noticing the absence of their leader.

"We split up." Brax said. "He should be around here somewhere."

"Here I am, team." Qwark spoke up from behind them. He came running out of the facility. "Have any of you seen Drek?"

"Negtive, Captain. He got away." Angela said, crossing her arms.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Qwark asked. "I bet you're the one who screwed things up!"

"What?! No! I got here just in time to help with taking down that huge Zurkon!" Angela cried out, offended.

"You ignored an order!"

"Guys!" Cora yelled, silencing both. "Captain, I can vouch for the fact that Angela here had nothing to do with the failing of this mission. In fact, without her help I'm not sure if we'd all have made it out in one piece. Although our target got away we have been able to locate where they build their ships. Have you been able to find any other intel?"

"No, although I blew up the generators. They won't be making any more warbots. What did you say you found?"

"The site of the Blargian aircraft manufacturing facilities."

It was as if a lightbulb began to shine in Qwark's head. "Rookie." he said, turning to Ratchet. "I hereby assign you and your metal friend the mission of investigating the manufacturing plants. Sweep them for anything you can find and make sure they come to a grinding halt. Oh, and feel free to have her tag along as well." he added, nodding to Angela, who rolled her eyes.

"What about us, Captain?" Cora asked.

"I need you and Brax on Kerwan. We need to find out where Drek went."

"Captain, if I may-" Elaris began.

"Hold your horses, the situation's under control." Qwark responded immediately, cutting her off. "Why don't you go fix the coffee machine while we get to work?"

Clank tilted his head, feeling a jolt of anger rush through his processor.

"Well then." Brax said, cracking his knuckles out of boredom. "Back to the Phoenix I suppose."

* * *

As soon as they were inside the phoenix, Ratchet took Angela's hand and pulled her after him. He charged down the stairs and into a supply closet, closing the door behind them. "What happened?" he asked instantly. "Why did you go planetside?"

"Because I wanted to help!"

"You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Says who?!" she fired back.

"No, she couldn't." Hypernova's voice suddenly came from the armor she was wearing. The armor began to move, crawling off her skin, leaving her in a standard Ranger armor, as if it was melting, and forming a puddle on the floor next to her. From the puddle of liquid metal Hypernova arose. "I was her armor. There was no danger at all."

"Why? You were the one so against her going planetside!" Ratchet fired.

"Because a simulation and real life are in no way comparable. Thus, I changed my mind, and decided that we could make use of this situation to provide Angela some... 'field training', so to speak."

"Yeah, but... you did all of the work." Angela said, ears lowering as she rubbed her arm.

"No, I did not. I said that I would guide you, but instead of actually doing something, I observed. You made some mistakes but overall you're pretty good when it comes to the truly crucial component of combat - improvising. You were able to adapt to various situations in almost no time at all. Only thing left is to work on aim because that's one of the things I did do, help your aim. Aside from fortified physical strength. Anyhow, get some sleep when we arrive on Kerwan, you'll both need it."

Hypernova walked out of the supply closet and disappeared from view. "What IS he?" Ratchet said, staring at the open door.

"I don't know." Angela said, shaking her head. "But to be honest, it freaks me out."

They ate something during the flight to Kerwan and, after landing, took a taxi to a nearby hotel. Clank joined them this time.

"What a remarkable city this is." he said, staring at all of the traffic flying past. The sun had already set where the Hall of Heroes was located, and the entire city was lit up beautifully.

"You're not kidding." Ratchet said. He noticed that Angela was falling asleep out of the corner of his eye, and he poked her arm. "Hey, try to stay awake. Just a little longer."

"Muh..." she muttered as she half-opened her eyes. "I'm tired of today."

Ratchet laughed. Soon enough the taxi stopped at the hotel. "Alright, we're here."

Angela didn't move. "Hey, you still awake?" Ratchet asked, gently poking her arm. No response. "Well, looks like she dozed off. Clank, why don't you go in and get us a hotel room, I'll carry this sleepyhead."

Clank nodded and used his Heli-Pack to fly out of the taxi before making his way inside.

Ratchet took a deep breath. "This is gonna take some creativity." he mumbled, taking Angela into his arms and lifting her out of the taxi.

Fortunately, Clank had already managed to acquire the keys to one of the hotel rooms by the time Ratchet stumbled into the foyer with an unconscious Lombax in his arms. They swiftly made their way to their hotel room and, because Clank couldn't reach the lock, Ratchet ended up inserting the key with his teeth before Clank turned it by flying up and pulling on the key as he fell back down.

Not the most practical approach but it worked. Ratchet lay Angela down on one of the hotel beds and took off her shoes, placing them onto the ground next to the bed. "Good night, Angela." he said over his shoulder before he turned off the lights. He walked through the hallway to the second bedroom, where Clank was already installing himself on the nightstand.

Ratchet brushed his teeth in the small bathroom attached to the bedroom before taking off his shoes and armor. He placed his shoes under his bed and hung his armor over a chair, before killing the lights and crashing on the bed.

Clank opened one eye. "Sleep well, Ratchet."

"G'night, pal." was the last thing Ratchet mumbled before his ears slowly went limp, indicating that he had fallen asleep.

* * *

After waking up, Ratchet checked up on Angela and Clank. Both had not awakened yet.

Ratchet went out and bought some breakfast for him and Angela, as well as some backup miniature power cells for Clank.

Upon arriving back at the hotel room, he found Angela sitting at a table across from Clank, who was setting up pieces on a chessboard.

Angela looked as if she wasn't fully awake yet, if her constant blinking, occasional yawns and the fact that her hair was messy were anything to go by.

"What was this game called again?" she asked Clank as she rubbed her eyes.

"Chess." Clank replied. "I came across the box containing the board and pieces yesterday evening and quickly downloaded the rules online."

"Uuh... I don't think Angela is fully awake yet, Clank." Ratchet said with a chuckle.

Clank tilted his head in confusion.

"Organic life forms need a few minutes to get going." Ratchet clarified. "Coffee?" he asked Angela, offering her one of the cups he'd bought along the way.

"Yes, please. Thank you." she replied, taking it from him.

Two hours later they were all set and headed to the Hall of Heroes for briefing. As they walked across the long bridge leading to said building, Ratchet couldn't help but feel proud, and honored that he was allowed to walk here.

A noise behind them made them stop and turn around. Hypernova was approaching the Hall of Heroes and swiftly landed behind them. "Morning." he greeted the trio. "I hope you've all slept well?"

"Wonderfully, thank you." Angela replied as they continued down the bridge to the Hall of Heroes. "What about you?"

"Didn't sleep." Hypernova truthfully replied.

"Huh? You must be feeling tired."

Hypernova chuckled. "You'll be surprised." he replied in a way that made Angela tilt her head a little in confusion, as if there was a double meaning to those words.

Soon enough they reached the entrance to the Hall of Heroes. Passing Qwark's statue (the head had been blown off during the attack on the Hall of Heroes that alerted the Rangers to the whereabouts of the Blarg. There was currently a team trying to weld the head back on) they walked up the small staircase and entered the massive building housing the people Solana looked to in times of need.

They met up with Captain Qwark in one of the conference rooms. Besides him only Elaris was present. She looked up from her tablet and gave the group a warm smile as they entered.

"Alright, everyone have a seat." Qwark said.

Ratchet, Angela and Clank sat down, while Hypernova simply leaned against the wall.

"Now, as you all know, the Blarg are well-supplied in terms of vehicles, mainly aircrafts. Ratchet, you and your girlfriend-"

"Captain, she's not-" Ratchet began.

"Please save your questions until the end of the presentation." Qwark cut him off before continuing. "As I was saying, you and your girlfriend are to explore planet Arylis. Locate and destroy the aircraft manufacturing plants."

"Clank and I will go with them." Hypernova said.

"On the contrary. You are to investigate the rumors of a fleet of Blargian aircrafts sighted near Aquatos."

"Like that's gonna happen. You have no power over me, Qwark."

"Will you stop always being such a stick in the mud?" Qwark angrily said. "These are still MY Rangers and this is still MY building!"

"Or what? What exactly are you going to do when I choose not to follow your orders?"

Elaris stepped forward. "If I may, I think it would greatly benefit the teamwork if you were to follow Captian Qwark's orders for a change."

"You don't understand, Elaris. I am only concerned for their safety." Hypernova replied, nodding towards Ratchet, Angela and Clank.

"I know, and I respect that. But Aquatos' citizens deserve safety too. Besides, they can't always have you watching over them."

Hypernova sighed. "Whatever you say. I hope I'm not making a big mistake here."

Clank raised his hand. "Excuse me for interrupting, but I was not named during the presentation. What will my task be?"

"The captain actually asked if you could assist me with some stuff around here." Elaris replied.

"Oh. Okay then."

"Don't worry, pal. We'll be back soon enough." Ratchet said, trying to cheer up his little, metal buddy.

* * *

"Ratchet?" Angela asked as they left Kerwan's cobalt blue sky behind.

"Yeah?"

"I just... I got a really bad feeling about this." she confessed.

"Cheer up, we'll be fine!"

"I know that, but still..."

Ratchet lifted up her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Hey. I'll make sure we both get home safely. I promise."

She sighed. "Okay then."

Ratchet grinned. "Let's kick some tail then."

Meanwhile Hypernova watched the blue Star Jumper fly off until it was but a speck in the distance. "Be safe, Kay." he mumbled before setting sail for Aquatos.

* * *

 **Alright! Mimicking the change I made in authors notes style in How It Should Have Been, I'll answer reviews down here from now on so you all don't have to dig through a wall of text before reaching the chapter itself.  
**

* * *

 **bayj: "** ** _Love this chapter!  
it was great!  
Aww cute moments with ratchet and Angela :3  
Seriously qwark it won't kill you to make a plan before leaping into action! It doesn't hurt to sit down for 5 minutes and listen to what your teammates have ti say!  
what will happen next?  
Looking forward to reading more soon!_"  
Thank you! As for those two Lombaxes... ah, there's the sword of Damocles...  
Either way, I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to produce. I hope that I can get chapter 15 done sooner.**

 **Max Chronicle: "** ** _Ahh, the good stuff. Buttkicking, budding friendships, Qwark...  
In the movie I'd always had a mixed reception of their infiltration leading up to Qwark in Drek's office. It just always felt off to me. And I've only ever played like an hour of the PS4 game. (I know, I know, behind the curve) But I wonder what the extra info Clank found in the room is for.  
I trust you for more shizness down the line and I'll catch the next chapter.  
Max out.  
P.S. Simon vs. Nathaniel... I'd honestly like to write one out and I'd also like to see what you could do with it. Just a hunch that it would quite the battle. (Mild evil chuckle)_"  
Yeah, looking at the movie and PS4 game... I loved it at first, but if I'm really critical about the plot, they dumped all of the character development that the first games had and didn't put it back in, although it made the first game that great. Ratchet's overly happy attitude makes him somewhat shallow - there's barely any conflict. Same goes for Clank, why doesn't Clank call him out for lying? Ratchet's _using_ him to get into the Rangers, they could have used that so well but they didn't! Lost opportunity to add some much-needed plot points... Oh well.  
P.S. Oh, it's nearly guaranteed that it'd be a crazy fight!**

 **zero fullbuster: "** ** _love it.  
great work.  
wow.  
I can't wait what happens next._"  
Thank you! Here's hoping this late chapter lived up to your expectations.**

 **Desertstorm272: "** ** _nice and you add some quotes from Overwatch_ "  
Thank you! And yes, I couldn't resist... XD**

* * *

 **Alright, once again, I hope I can get chapter 15 done sooner. Aside from that, I hope everyone's still here. Oh well, only one way to find out...**


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